In message , Neil Williams
writes
On Sun, 1 Feb 2009 20:35:25 +0000, Ian Jelf
wrote:

I agree with you (although unstaffed stations are unpopular with the
public at large, I can tell you, from a safety/security point of view).
*That* point was being made on Tyneside in 1980!

Yet in Germany it is very common - even underground stations are
usually completely unstaffed.

Indeed. That was the counter-point being made on Tyneside in 1980, not
to mention in the pages of "Modern Tramway" at the time, almost ad
infinitum. :-))


And there is the question as to whether
two members of staff (say) would be better cooped up in a ticket
office or walking around checking things are OK.

I would agree with that 100%, provided you can find someone when you
need them. That is the drawback of having people in this "roving"
role.

I would repeat, though, that a major Central Area station is different
and needs someone staffing a "Ticket Office". I've put that in
inverted commas because they really need people for a *variety* of
things, not really to sell tickets [1] . What the stations really need
is combined Ticket Offices and Travel Centres. Many more of them than
they have at present.



[1] It amazed me, though it shouldn't, at how many people were buying
tickets which they could easily have bought from machines. That said,
I can tell you that London's ticket machines and system baffle a lot of
outsiders. This I suppose is why Baker Street *did* have staff next to
the machines, helping people find out what they wanted to buy, when the
Ticket Office was closed..


--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk