Underground Ticket Office Closures---Effects Yet?
 

Does anybody have any comment on the effects so far of the closing of Underground Ticket offices? I haven't researched this topic extensively, but it seems that 1.this is going to happen to about 300 stations by the end of the year and 2. a few stations, like Kings Cross and Heathrow, that have lots of tourists will get Information Centers which will have an actual agent to help.

Just wondering how this is affecting the London populace as well as how it's affecting tourists thus far.

Found this interesting blog on situation http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/20...r_archive.html

The move scarcely affects the London populace at all.

There's no significant difference between the cost of travel with a contactless credit/debit card and any other method. Oyster cards are available for cash or cards from vending machines, newsagents and other agents: for the unbanked (whose numbers aren't trivial) there are thousands of points of sale selling one-off tickets or payment cards.

Londoners are as relaxed at the prospect of buying travel tickets from machines or independent businesses as they've been since 1840 about buying their postage stamps the same way.

So far just Queensway and South Wimbledon have closed. No-one - apart from the world's greediest trade union outside the US transport industry - cares. And few TfL union members' mothers care much for their children's perpetual whingeing and threats to stop their neighbours getting to work

The problem a complete closure would cause is entirely about visitors. All TfL ticket offices at railway stations, especially on Saturdays when hundreds of trippers arrive at once, already generate immense queues of visitors unable to deal with TfL's self-serve machinery and nervous about contactless cards.

So facilities for them at the tube stations where they congregate are being upgraded: TfL's actually adding staff to deal with these alleged technological illiterates. Funded by the savings from the pointless jobs being eliminated. Personally, I wouldn't bother.

The only way people will learn to cope with the modern age is by making them. Virtually everyone with an over-60's (now, I think, over 62s) free travel pass gets it online, for example - which is how everyone gets their driving licence and passport, and how we file our tax returns and how we get our prescriptions. I think it's just those whingeing adolescents - and backward foreigners - who need a mummy to sell them a tube ticket.

Queensway is busy with tourists. There was often a large queue for the ticket window, while the machines were there to use without waiting. Now there's a queue for the machines, but someone is there to help the technologically challenged tourists. All in all, it seems to be more efficient now.

I'm glad that the busses no longer sell tickets. Now that was a nuisance, a whole bus being held up by people trying to find the right change.

Claiming virtually everyone accesses services online is simply untrue.

As at Q1 2014 6.4 million adults in the UK had never used the Internet.

Of those aged 65+ 29% had never used the Internet
Of those aged 75+ 62% had never used the Internet

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/...014/index.html

Eventually, all those old non-users will die off and maybe we can look forward to a brighter future where everything is online and everyone is connected and everyone accesses all they want, when they want, and how they want. But we're a long way from that.

They occasionally have the windows closed at Epping - or rather used to - and tbh it wasn't great as people who've not used the ticket machines before often seemed confused about what to do, sometimes they don't work properly (I've put money in and its clearly not added the correct amount), or people just want to ask questions and check travel details. They've actually gone back to having the ticket office staffed full time again from what I can see.

Tfl said they would get round the problems outlined above by having staff 'out front' to help buy tickets and to answer queries, but actually some of these ticket halls are tiny and there's barely enough room for the queue for the ticket machine, let alone helpers. I know some stations on this line are officially ticket office-free now but my personal experience is that the staff are aware this hasn't gone down particularly well and the closure of others - particularly the more heavily used stations - is being dragged out as long as possible. Also the unions don't want it and that will mean it won't happen quickly or smoothly.