In message , at 23:34:21
on Tue, 18 Dec 2007, Duncan remarked:

I think that it's also rather silly that there are signs for "UK rail
tickets" - and two totally separate ticket offices next door to each
other. One for East Midlands and one for FCC. I guess SET will get one
of their own too when they start!

I wondered that when I was there yesterday. The FCC ticket office had
quite a queue building up even with all the ticket windows open, but the
EMT ticket office next door was empty. There appeared to be no clear
guidance over which ticket office to use, so I expect most people were
just using the first one they came across. I assume there is no
incentive for FCC to direct some of their customers to the EMT office as
they will lose the commission on the sale.

Is this the only station with more than one company operating a ticket
office (excluding the Eurostar ticket office for a moment)?

There isn't an obvious place on the plans for a SET ticket office,
though.

The whole station still seemed unfinished to me.

It *is* unfinished. After all the fuss about deadlines in the "800
million station" TV documentary, they seem to have completely lost their
momentum.

I can't understand why a lot of the retail units have still not been
fitted out. If WHS and M&S can manage by the opening, why are others
struggling weeks later?

The platform level WHS opened "early" because that part of the concourse
was accessible from Platforms 1-4. M&S is actually SSP, of course, so
they may have had a bit of an inside track seeing as how they will be
operating so many units inside the station.

Personally I think there are too many fancy shops. Most of the
passengers there, e.g. domestic travellers, I'm sure will just want
snacks and something to read on the journey. Those retailers that have
been allowed in, such as WHSmith, have units far too small for the
number of passengers trying to use them.

The shops I've been in are very small (M&S last Friday was so full you
literally couldn't get through the door). The WHS is in a part of the
station where the structure only allows a small footprint per shop.
Maybe the master plan is a bit broken?
--
Roland Perry