Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

---quote---
Every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015 under plans that will
see 750 jobs cut.

Transport for London (TfL) said staff will be moved from behind ticket
office windows to be in the station itself to help passengers.

The Tube will also run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays on some
lines.
[...]
TfL says six major central London stations will have special customer
points to help tourists and that every station will be staffed while the
tube is running.
---/quote---



Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 12:11, Mizter T wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888


There's a new section on the TfL website regarding these changes,
including an open letter from Mayor Boris and Mike Brown, MD of LUL, and
a short video address by the very same Mike Brown:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/futuretube

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

---quote---
Every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015 under plans that will
see 750 jobs cut.

Transport for London (TfL) said staff will be moved from behind ticket
office windows to be in the station itself to help passengers.

The Tube will also run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays on some
lines.
[...]
TfL says six major central London stations will have special customer
points to help tourists and that every station will be staffed while the
tube is running.
---/quote---



Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

It's been rumoured for a while, and is I suppose the inevitable
consequence of the move to largely smartcard and machine-bought
tickets. But the weekend running is more unexpected. And, as the
article also mentions, that means some stations will need to be manned
24 hours a day over the weekend. Will the unions tolerate
single-manned stations at 3am in south or east London?

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at 12:22:08 on
Thu, 21 Nov 2013, Recliner remarked:
Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

It's been rumoured for a while, and is I suppose the inevitable
consequence of the move to largely smartcard and machine-bought
tickets.

A lot of passengers still queue up at the ticket windows at the moment,
especially at major rail terminals, so there's going to be quite a bit
of user education to do (and tourists/infrequent visitors are the least
likely to be in possession of the relevant smartcards).

--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 12:22, Recliner wrote:
On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

---quote---
Every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015 under plans that will
see 750 jobs cut.

Transport for London (TfL) said staff will be moved from behind ticket
office windows to be in the station itself to help passengers.

The Tube will also run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays on some
lines.
[...]
TfL says six major central London stations will have special customer
points to help tourists and that every station will be staffed while the
tube is running.
---/quote---



Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

It's been rumoured for a while, and is I suppose the inevitable
consequence of the move to largely smartcard and machine-bought
tickets. But the weekend running is more unexpected. And, as the
article also mentions, that means some stations will need to be manned
24 hours a day over the weekend. Will the unions tolerate
single-manned stations at 3am in south or east London?


Or indeed west or north London.

Anyhow, your prejudices aside, AFAICS the proposals don't explicitly
talk about single staffing of stations - of course the unions will say
the threat is implicit.

Re the ticketing - the crucial change will be the acceptance of
Contactless Payment Cards (CPCs - e.g. Visa payWave) on the Tube. This
will I think lead to a fairly revolutionary change (with the significant
caveat that many passengers won't have access to a CPC), but it'll only
really make sense if NR in London also accepts CPCs in the same manner.

Re the 24hr running - I could perhaps see a case for the Bank branch of
the Northern line to run as well, given how popular Shoreditch/ Hoxton
(served by Old Street) and Islington (served by Angel) are as
nightspots. That said, parts of the London Overground network - the East
London Line and at least some of the North London Line - would attract a
significant nocturnal patronage if they were open for business too.

"Night Tube" map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...ight-map-2.jpg

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at 12:40:32 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Re the ticketing - the crucial change will be the acceptance of
Contactless Payment Cards (CPCs - e.g. Visa payWave) on the Tube. This
will I think lead to a fairly revolutionary change (with the
significant caveat that many passengers won't have access to a CPC),
but it'll only really make sense if NR in London also accepts CPCs in
the same manner.

Do you happen to know if they've started accepting foreign issued and
prepaid CPCs yet? This is of course of some importance to tourists,
especially since the move towards prepaid card for the issuing of
foreign exchange.
--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 12:55, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 12:40:32 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
Re the ticketing - the crucial change will be the acceptance of
Contactless Payment Cards (CPCs - e.g. Visa payWave) on the Tube. This
will I think lead to a fairly revolutionary change (with the
significant caveat that many passengers won't have access to a CPC),
but it'll only really make sense if NR in London also accepts CPCs in
the same manner.

Do you happen to know if they've started accepting foreign issued and
prepaid CPCs yet? This is of course of some importance to tourists,
especially since the move towards prepaid card for the issuing of
foreign exchange.

TfL hasn't actually got a policy of not accepting foreign issued CPCs on
buses, rather they just promote the scheme as accepting UK-issued
contactless credit/debit/charge cards because they can't guarantee
foreign issued ones will work.

See this PDF from TfL - "Using contactless payment cards
on buses":
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tickets/Using_contactless_payment_cards_on_buses.pdf

---quote---
Most contactless payment cards (CPCs) issued by UK banks and payment
card companies will be accepted on buses but some cards issued outside
the UK will not.
---/quote---


FWIW, I've read reports elsewhere that foreign issued CPCs have worked
just fine on buses.

I can't offer any insight into when TfL will be able to offer an
assurance that foreign issued CPCs will work, ditto for (UK or foreign
issued) prepaid cards, for I don't know any more than that.

As I said earlier, I think CPCs will likely change the ticketing picture
significantly, but they're certainly not some magic solve-all solution.
I wonder if the Tube sans ticket offices proposal is perhaps a bit
before its time - that said, others have suggested that public transport
ticketing might be the real driver that leads to widespread adoption and
usage of contactless cards.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at 15:18:33 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
TfL hasn't actually got a policy of not accepting foreign issued CPCs
on buses, rather they just promote the scheme as accepting UK-issued
contactless credit/debit/charge cards because they can't guarantee
foreign issued ones will work.

See this PDF from TfL - "Using contactless payment cards
on buses":
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tickets/Using_contactless_payment_cards_on_buses.pdf

---quote---
Most contactless payment cards (CPCs) issued by UK banks and payment
card companies will be accepted on buses but some cards issued outside
the UK will not.
---/quote---

But my understanding is that they are refusing some foreign/prepay cards
because of problems in the back-office processing, rather than because
there's a technical issue with the cards themselves.
--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 12:22:08 on
Thu, 21 Nov 2013, Recliner remarked:
Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

It's been rumoured for a while, and is I suppose the inevitable
consequence of the move to largely smartcard and machine-bought
tickets.

A lot of passengers still queue up at the ticket windows at the moment,
especially at major rail terminals, so there's going to be quite a bit of
user education to do (and tourists/infrequent visitors are the least
likely to be in possession of the relevant smartcards).

and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use as a
receipt?

:-(

tim

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On 21/11/2013 18:58, tim...... wrote:
[...]
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use as a
receipt?

Print it off from the journey history section of the (yet to be unleashed)
TfL online account associated with your contactless payment card (the CPC
equivalent of the Oyster online account).

And no, I don't know how that's going to be implemented, but that's part
of TfL's CPC plan.

I don't have a contactless bank card, the bank have yet to send me one

tim

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 18:58, tim...... wrote:
[...]
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use as a
receipt?

Print it off from the journey history section of the (yet to be
unleashed) TfL online account associated with your contactless payment
card (the CPC equivalent of the Oyster online account).

And no, I don't know how that's going to be implemented, but that's part
of TfL's CPC plan.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 16:30, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 15:18:33 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
TfL hasn't actually got a policy of not accepting foreign issued CPCs
on buses, rather they just promote the scheme as accepting UK-issued
contactless credit/debit/charge cards because they can't guarantee
foreign issued ones will work.

See this PDF from TfL - "Using contactless payment cards
on buses":
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tickets/Using_contactless_payment_cards_on_buses.pdf


---quote---
Most contactless payment cards (CPCs) issued by UK banks and payment
card companies will be accepted on buses but some cards issued outside
the UK will not.
---/quote---

But my understanding is that they are refusing some foreign/prepay cards
because of problems in the back-office processing, rather than because
there's a technical issue with the cards themselves.

Fair point. I don't know what it is that's deficient when it comes to
some foreign issued contactless cards.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 19:11, tim...... wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

On 21/11/2013 18:58, tim...... wrote:
[...]
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use as a
receipt?

Print it off from the journey history section of the (yet to be
unleashed) TfL online account associated with your contactless payment
card (the CPC equivalent of the Oyster online account).

And no, I don't know how that's going to be implemented, but that's
part of TfL's CPC plan.

I don't have a contactless bank card, the bank have yet to send me one


And the ticket offices have yet to (all) close.

Even without a CPC, what I've said above applies to Oyster.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 21/11/2013 12:22, Recliner wrote:
On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

---quote---
Every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015 under plans that
will see 750 jobs cut.

Transport for London (TfL) said staff will be moved from behind ticket
office windows to be in the station itself to help passengers.

The Tube will also run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays on some
lines.
[...]
TfL says six major central London stations will have special customer
points to help tourists and that every station will be staffed while
the tube is running.
---/quote---

Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of
things, but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is
of course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines,
which in its own right is most welcome.

It's been rumoured for a while, and is I suppose the inevitable
consequence of the move to largely smartcard and machine-bought
tickets. But the weekend running is more unexpected. And, as the
article also mentions, that means some stations will need to be manned
24 hours a day over the weekend. Will the unions tolerate
single-manned stations at 3am in south or east London?

Or indeed west or north London.

Anyhow, your prejudices aside, AFAICS the proposals don't explicitly
talk about single staffing of stations - of course the unions will
say the threat is implicit.

Re the ticketing - the crucial change will be the acceptance of
Contactless Payment Cards (CPCs - e.g. Visa payWave) on the Tube.
This will I think lead to a fairly revolutionary change (with the
significant caveat that many passengers won't have access to a CPC),
but it'll only really make sense if NR in London also accepts CPCs in
the same manner.

Re the 24hr running - I could perhaps see a case for the Bank branch
of the Northern line to run as well, given how popular Shoreditch/
Hoxton (served by Old Street) and Islington (served by Angel) are as
nightspots. That said, parts of the London Overground network - the
East London Line and at least some of the North London Line - would
attract a significant nocturnal patronage if they were open for
business too.

"Night Tube" map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...ight-map-2.jpg

That looks to be mainly driven by the presence of modern signalling UIVMM.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

---quote---
Every ticket office on the Tube is to shut by 2015 under plans that
will see 750 jobs cut.

Transport for London (TfL) said staff will be moved from behind
ticket office windows to be in the station itself to help passengers.

The Tube will also run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays on
some lines.
[...]
TfL says six major central London stations will have special customer
points to help tourists and that every station will be staffed while
the tube is running.
---/quote---

Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of
things, but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill
is of course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube
lines, which in its own right is most welcome.

Are they going to introduce Oyster history printing facilities at ticket
machines then? That can only be obtained from ticket offices now. If your
card is registered you can get it on the web but that is not the same as is
on the card as I discovered when my wife was diddled and isn't available at
all until the next day.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:
Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of
things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines,
which
in its own right is most welcome.

I don't think the Tube needs ticket offices, rather it needs staff on
the floor helping with things. German systems are often near enough
completely unstaffed. So I broadly support the idea.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:18:33 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

As I said earlier, I think CPCs will likely change the ticketing
picture
significantly, but they're certainly not some magic solve-all
solution.
I wonder if the Tube sans ticket offices proposal is perhaps a bit
before its time

I think it's about 15 years after its time. City transport networks
need simple, automated ticketing. Ticket offices are for the mainline
- and TBH I see a reduced need for them there as well - better to
have them out showing how to use the machine next time.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:58:31 +0100, "tim......"
wrote:
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use
as a
receipt?

From a ticket machine or online.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:17:20 -0600,
wrote:
Are they going to introduce Oyster history printing facilities at
ticket
machines then? That can only be obtained from ticket offices now.

Which is another trick missed with Oyster - such services should have
been machine only from day one.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:54:12 +0100, Neil Williams
wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:
Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of
things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines,
which
in its own right is most welcome.

I don't think the Tube needs ticket offices, rather it needs staff on
the floor helping with things. German systems are often near enough
completely unstaffed. So I broadly support the idea.

I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets; also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 20:59, Neil Williams wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 15:18:33 +0000, Mizter T wrote:

As I said earlier, I think CPCs will likely change the ticketing
picture significantly, but they're certainly not some magic solve-all
solve-all I wonder if the Tube sans ticket offices proposal is perhaps
a bit before its time

I think it's about 15 years after its time. City transport networks
need simple, automated ticketing. Ticket offices are for the mainline -
and TBH I see a reduced need for them there as well - better to have
them out showing how to use the machine next time.

The reason why I said that is because contactless cards are still
somewhat new on the scene, and there are still many with a (standard) UK
bank account who don't have them yet. If the 'close the Tube ticket
offices' plan is predicated on widespread CPC usage, then holding a CPC
also needs to be widespread. That said, the picture will inevitably
change over the next year and a half.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 21/11/2013 21:38, Scott wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:54:12 +0100, Neil Williams
[snip]
I don't think the Tube needs ticket offices, rather it needs staff on
the floor helping with things. German systems are often near enough
completely unstaffed. So I broadly support the idea.

I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets; also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?


There's no suggestion whatsoever that Oyster cards are to disappear from
the scene. So Oyster cards should continue to be available from shops as
they are now - and they're already available for vending from Tube
ticket machines (at least one machine in each station).

I can't help but think that a lack of Tube ticket offices at main NR
termini and other arrival points (Heathrow, VCS etc) just isn't very
visitor friendly though - however much TfL might try and push Visitor
Oyster cards to visitors before they arrive in London, people are just
going to turn up and expect to sort it on arrival. (CPCs may be a
solution for some of those visitors, but not all.)

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:17:20 -0600,
wrote:
Are they going to introduce Oyster history printing facilities at ticket
machines then? That can only be obtained from ticket offices now.

Which is another trick missed with Oyster - such services should have
been machine only from day one.

I agree. You can see the details on screen but not get a permanent record.
The ticket office printers also fade pretty quickly so are far from
permanent.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 21/11/2013 21:38, Scott wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:54:12 +0100, Neil Williams
[snip]
I don't think the Tube needs ticket offices, rather it needs staff on
the floor helping with things. German systems are often near enough
completely unstaffed. So I broadly support the idea.

I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets; also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

There's no suggestion whatsoever that Oyster cards are to disappear
from the scene. So Oyster cards should continue to be available from
shops as they are now - and they're already available for vending
from Tube ticket machines (at least one machine in each station).

Really? I've never noticed one at East |Putney. And the ticket stop outside
shuts long before the end of service.

I can't help but think that a lack of Tube ticket offices at main NR
termini and other arrival points (Heathrow, VCS etc) just isn't very
visitor friendly though - however much TfL might try and push Visitor
Oyster cards to visitors before they arrive in London, people are
just going to turn up and expect to sort it on arrival. (CPCs may be
a solution for some of those visitors, but not all.)

Agree. I found Berlin a little bewildering for visitors to get going on the
U & S Bahn.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:38:08 +0000, Scott
wrote:
I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets;
also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

You can now do both of these at ticket machines.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:51:38 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:
The reason why I said that is because contactless cards are still
somewhat new on the scene, and there are still many with a
(standard) UK
bank account who don't have them yet. If the 'close the Tube ticket
offices' plan is predicated on widespread CPC usage, then holding a
CPC
also needs to be widespread. That said, the picture will inevitably
change over the next year and a half.

Cards typically have a 3 year expiry, so I would expect after 3 years
near enough all cards to be so equipped.

Neil

--
Neil Williams. Use neil before the at to reply.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at 19:21:18 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
But my understanding is that they are refusing some foreign/prepay cards
because of problems in the back-office processing, rather than because
there's a technical issue with the cards themselves.

Fair point. I don't know what it is that's deficient when it comes to
some foreign issued contactless cards.

The problem is probably setting up a relationship with the foreign
banks, dealing with things like over-limit credit cards and exhausted
pre-pay cards. We know buses aren't online. It's a bit like the old
"Electron/Solo" restriction.
--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at 21:51:38 on Thu, 21 Nov
2013, Mizter T remarked:
As I said earlier, I think CPCs will likely change the ticketing
picture significantly, but they're certainly not some magic solve-all
solve-all I wonder if the Tube sans ticket offices proposal is perhaps
a bit before its time

I think it's about 15 years after its time. City transport networks
need simple, automated ticketing. Ticket offices are for the mainline -
and TBH I see a reduced need for them there as well - better to have
them out showing how to use the machine next time.

The reason why I said that is because contactless cards are still
somewhat new on the scene, and there are still many with a (standard)
UK bank account who don't have them yet. If the 'close the Tube ticket
offices' plan is predicated on widespread CPC usage, then holding a CPC
also needs to be widespread. That said, the picture will inevitably
change over the next year and a half.

For people without a contactless credit card (and last time I was
involved in consumer credit issues it was said that about half the
population was fundamentally un-credit-worthy for whatever reason) then
there's always a pre-pay card.

Here's an article about that actually mentions use on London Underground
(so perhaps that answers my earlier question, unless the author means
buying tickets from a machine):

http://bankinnovation.net/2011/03/tr...at-us-payment-
habits/
--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In message , at
07:53:28 on Fri, 22 Nov 2013, Neil Williams
remarked:
Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

You can now do both of these at ticket machines.

And ticket machines, once a quick way to buy a ticket, often have long
queues, especially those where a visitor spends ages essentially
pressing buttons at random.
--
Roland Perry

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:38:08 +0000, Scott
wrote:
I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets; also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

You can now do both of these at ticket machines.

You can only add less than £5 to Oyster at a ticket stop. I don't use the
tube enough to add that much at a time.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 22/11/2013 10:07, wrote:

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:38:08 +0000, Scott
wrote:
I take it Oyster cards will still be available at retail outlets; also
the ability to add value to them. Will visitors and others you be
able to buy an Oyster card at NR main termini, either a the (NR)
ticket office or at a shop there, and at Heathrow etc?

You can now do both of these at ticket machines.

You can only add less than £5 to Oyster at a ticket stop. I don't use the
tube enough to add that much at a time.

It would still be there for when you next want to use it Colin, as you
well know.

Anyhow, you can add less than £5 at Tube ticket machines, ditto for NR
ticket machines that do Oyster top ups.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On 22/11/2013 06:54, Neil Williams wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:51:38 +0000, Mizter T wrote:
The reason why I said that is because contactless cards are still
somewhat new on the scene, and there are still many with a
(standard) UK bank account who don't have them yet. If the 'close the
Tube ticket offices' plan is predicated on widespread CPC usage, then
holding a CPC also needs to be widespread. That said, the picture
will inevitably change over the next year and a half.

Cards typically have a 3 year expiry, so I would expect after 3 years
near enough all cards to be so equipped.

I'm not sure all banks are issuing them, and even if they do they won't
necessarily issue them to every category of customer.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 21:59:44 +0100, Neil Williams wrote:
I think it's about 15 years after its time. City transport networks
need simple, automated ticketing. Ticket offices are for the mainline
- and TBH I see a reduced need for them there as well - better to
have them out showing how to use the machine next time.

I generally agree with you but there are lots of tickets that can
currently only be bought from a ticket office. As an example can I get
a £2 travelcard for a child travelling with me while I use my Gold Card
from any machines?

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On 21/11/2013 19:11, tim...... wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

On 21/11/2013 18:58, tim...... wrote:
[...]
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use as
a
receipt?

Print it off from the journey history section of the (yet to be
unleashed) TfL online account associated with your contactless payment
card (the CPC equivalent of the Oyster online account).

And no, I don't know how that's going to be implemented, but that's
part of TfL's CPC plan.

I don't have a contactless bank card, the bank have yet to send me one


And the ticket offices have yet to (all) close.

Even without a CPC, what I've said above applies to Oyster.

I have previously explained (in an earlier thread) why I can't get an online
receipt from my Oyster

(Yes, I could get a new Oyster)

tim

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:17:20 -0600,
wrote:
Are they going to introduce Oyster history printing facilities at
ticket
machines then? That can only be obtained from ticket offices now.

Which is another trick missed with Oyster - such services should have
been machine only from day one.

I agree. You can see the details on screen but not get a permanent record.
The ticket office printers also fade pretty quickly so are far from
permanent.

Will the machine printed ones last any longer?

tim

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
.net...
On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 12:11:38 +0000, Mizter T wrote:
Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of
things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of course
sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines,
which
in its own right is most welcome.

I don't think the Tube needs ticket offices, rather it needs staff on the
floor helping with things. German systems are often near enough completely
unstaffed. So I broadly support the idea.

(as well as the in station options) German (/Italian/Belgium/Dutch/Spanish)
systems normally work on the basis of there being a prepaid "carnet" or
strip ticket (or smart card), which you buy from manned newsagents (etc), so
the comparison is entirely false, IMHO.

tim




Neil

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Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 12:22:08PM +0000, Recliner wrote:

But the weekend running is more unexpected. And, as the
article also mentions, that means some stations will need to be manned
24 hours a day over the weekend. Will the unions tolerate
single-manned stations at 3am in south or east London?

I don't see that south or east London are any different in this regard
from north or west London.

--
David Cantrell | Pope | First Church of the Symmetrical Internet

" In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's ... programs should be
indented six feet downward and covered with dirt. "
--Blair P. Houghton

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
.net...
On Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:58:31 +0100, "tim......"
wrote:
and how am I going to get the journey history from my Oyster to use
as a
receipt?

From a ticket machine

can you do this?

I've not actually looked since I started to need a receipt

or online.

AIUI only available with registered cards, which mine is not (and now never
will be)

tim


Neil

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Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 12:11:38PM +0000, Mizter T wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888

Blimey - I knew fewer ticket offices is the general direction of things,
but wasn't expecting quite such a radical proposal. The pill is of
course sweetened by the plan for 24hr running on some Tube lines, which
in its own right is most welcome.

I wonder how they're going to cope with Oyster problems - the only thing
I use a tube ticket office for these days. eg, sorting out things like
"This card has stopped working, please give me a new one and transfer my
balance". And of course "I don't want this card any more, give me back
the balance and my deposit please"

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive

PLEASE NOTE: This message was meant to offend everyone equally,
regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, politics, choice
of beer, operating system, mode of transport, or their editor.

Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015
 

On Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:50:17 +0100, "tim......"
wrote:
(as well as the in station options) German
(/Italian/Belgium/Dutch/Spanish)
systems normally work on the basis of there being a prepaid
"carnet" or
strip ticket (or smart card), which you buy from manned newsagents
(etc), so
the comparison is entirely false, IMHO.

You mean like, say, Oyster?

Hamburg doesn't and never has had, btw. It has a fare structure very
similar to London.

Neil

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