"Plans to close dozens of London Underground ticket offices have been
reversed by London mayor Boris Johnson. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7484924.stm

That should please them - I had got the impression though that they were
going to be moved into more visible roles out on the platforms?

Paul S

In message , at 12:25:56 on
Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Paul Scott remarked:
"Plans to close dozens of London Underground ticket offices have been
reversed by London mayor Boris Johnson. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7484924.stm

That should please them - I had got the impression though that they were
going to be moved into more visible roles out on the platforms?

From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:

"From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
least busy stops to the busiest stations.

Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:

"Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
trips, said TfL. "
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:25:56 on
From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:

"From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
least busy stops to the busiest stations.

Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:

"Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
trips, said TfL. "

This presumably means that that transfer of staff to big stations like
KXSP won't happen? KXSP presumably has a higher proportion of
over-the-counter sales than, say, my local station Chiswick Park* (which
was to have lost office staff) so presumably could have done with some
more staff. Alternatively, did Boris promise to increase funding for
staff to fill the gap?

Tom

* where the vast majority of travellers walk through the spacious,
multi-exited secure feeling hall, Oyster through the barriers and then
stand for a while on the exposed concrete platform with only one way
out. I'd rather have a couple of platform staff than a bored bloke
behind glass downstairs occasionally selling a couple of tickets and out
of view of the majority of the public. London Overground stations
definitely feel more loved than Chiswick Park now, for precisely this
reason.

In message , at 13:50:42 on Wed,
2 Jul 2008, Tom Barry remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:25:56 on
From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:
"From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from
the
least busy stops to the busiest stations.
Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that
rather
more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:
"Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
trips, said TfL. "

This presumably means that that transfer of staff to big stations like
KXSP won't happen?

That's a guess, yes.

KXSP presumably has a higher proportion of over-the-counter sales
than, say, my local station Chiswick Park* (which was to have lost
office staff) so presumably could have done with some more staff.
Alternatively, did Boris promise to increase funding for staff to fill
the gap?

They should increase the staffing at places like KX/StP regardless, in
order to provide an acceptable service to the public.

Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem incapable of
taking money off people who are desperately thrusting it at them?
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at 13:50:42 on
Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Tom Barry remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:25:56 on
From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:
"From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from
the least busy stops to the busiest stations.
Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that
rather more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:
"Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of
all trips, said TfL. "

This presumably means that that transfer of staff to big stations like

KXSP won't happen?

That's a guess, yes.

KXSP presumably has a higher proportion of over-the-counter
sales than, say, my local station Chiswick Park* (which was to
have lost office staff) so presumably could have done with some
more staff. Alternatively, did Boris promise to increase funding
for staff to fill the gap?

They should increase the staffing at places like KX/StP regardless,
in order to provide an acceptable service to the public.

Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem
incapable of taking money off people who are desperately thrusting
it at them?

Cambridge station is a lot better on that score since you left.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article .uk,
Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem
incapable of taking money off people who are desperately thrusting
it at them?

Cambridge station is a lot better on that score since you left.

The Perry Effect on train running applying to ticket offices too,
perhaps ? :-)

Nick
--
Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 6th June 2008)
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

In message .uk, at
22:37:00 on Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Colin Rosenstiel
remarked:
Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem
incapable of taking money off people who are desperately thrusting
it at them?

Cambridge station is a lot better on that score since you left.

Must be my patent "interrupter field", which ensures that no building,
in any town I'm in, can also contain more than three people selling
railway tickets or Post Office services
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message .uk, at
22:37:00 on Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Colin Rosenstiel
remarked:
Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem
incapable of taking money off people who are desperately thrusting
it at them?

Cambridge station is a lot better on that score since you left.

Must be my patent "interrupter field", which ensures that no building, in
any town I'm in, can also contain more than three people selling railway
tickets or Post Office services

Is the 'close buffets early' mode a recent enhancement then?

Paul

In message , at 09:43:05 on
Thu, 3 Jul 2008, Paul Scott remarked:
Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem
incapable of taking money off people who are desperately thrusting
it at them?

Cambridge station is a lot better on that score since you left.

Must be my patent "interrupter field", which ensures that no building, in
any town I'm in, can also contain more than three people selling railway
tickets or Post Office services

Is the 'close buffets early' mode a recent enhancement then?

I've only been using 'intercity' trains regularly for the last four
years, so I don't know. That force may have been with me for longer, but
lying idle.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:50:10 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:

"From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
least busy stops to the busiest stations.

Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:

"Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
trips, said TfL. "

But ticket offices also perform Oyster transactions. So do the vending
machines, of course, but (unless this has been corrected in the past two
years) the vending machines refuse to accept overseas credit cards that
do not feature UK-style chip-and-PIN.

Last I checked, there was no warning of this fact at either the TfL
website (which indicates that credit cards are accepted) or the chip-and-
PIN website (which indicates that credit cards without chip-and-PIN will
be accepted in the UK, with no exception indicated for vending machines).

So a tourist from overseas may well find himself stranded with an empty
Oyster card and insufficient cash at a station without an open ticket
window, expecting to "top up" by credit card at the machine. (If the
problem with the machines cannot be corrected, there should at the very
least be a warning on the TfL website, with a list of affected stations
and, if relevant, the hours that the ticket windows are closed.)

In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
security measure. However, the machines are generally intelligent enough
to skip that step for non-US-based cards.
--
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA