On 02/04/2016 13:36, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:23:46 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:
Waitrose has announced that it will be the first supermarket to launch
on the TfL network by taking over a disused station on the Piccadilly
line.

The concourse at Down Street station will be redeveloped to create a
unique retail space for TfL customers.

Joking apart, I remember when there were shops (well, kiosks) on the
platform at several UndergrounD stations.

There still are - Embankment, Monument and Hammersmith come to mind
immediately.

The kiosks at Monument aren't behind the line, however, whereas the
two at Embankment on the District line are.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm only interested in kiosks on platforms,
"airside" of the ticket barriers.

Which all of those 3 are - ok, at Monument they are set back by the DLR
stairs but they are within sight line of the platforms, level with them
and with no encumberences between them.

Embankment and Hammersmith they are very much on the platforms themselves.

On 02.04.16 13:36, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:23:46 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:
Waitrose has announced that it will be the first supermarket to launch
on the TfL network by taking over a disused station on the Piccadilly
line.

The concourse at Down Street station will be redeveloped to create a
unique retail space for TfL customers.

Joking apart, I remember when there were shops (well, kiosks) on the
platform at several UndergrounD stations.

There still are - Embankment, Monument and Hammersmith come to mind
immediately.

The kiosks at Monument aren't behind the line, however, whereas the
two at Embankment on the District line are.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm only interested in kiosks on platforms,
"airside" of the ticket barriers.

Yes, there is. I just recalled that it is on the westbound track.

The westbound platform appears to be the only one on the LUL that uses a
single-lense platform repeater.

On 02.04.16 13:38, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:20:27 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:

I remember that Cadbury had chocolate machines at most stations,
though they seem to have removed them about 10 years ago. Why was that?

Removed longer ago than that, I think.

Even when they worked, I suspect they probably vended more chocolate
bars to people with the necessary size of washers, rather than UK coinage.

I do remember that those machines appeared to often dispense more than
you purchased. I did not mind that.

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

In message , at 13:49:14 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.
--
Roland Perry

On Saturday, 2 April 2016 09:01:38 UTC+1, Someone Somewhere wrote:

There still are - Embankment, Monument and Hammersmith come to mind
immediately.

Liverpool Street. Baker Street? Does a "Treats" count? On the Met Line.

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:49:14 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.

If it's a choice between using a payphone in the station and waiting till
you reach a landline at your destination, I can see the payphone being
used. If it's a case of just waiting until you get above ground and using
your mobile, I expect people would rather wait. I think there is also an
element that most people have, for practical purposes, "forgotten" about
payphones, in that if they can't use their mobile it doesn't occur to them
to look for a payphone.

Robin

On 03.04.16 11:14, bob wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:49:14 on Sat, 2 Apr 2016,
" remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.

If it's a choice between using a payphone in the station and waiting till
you reach a landline at your destination, I can see the payphone being
used. If it's a case of just waiting until you get above ground and using
your mobile, I expect people would rather wait. I think there is also an
element that most people have, for practical purposes, "forgotten" about
payphones, in that if they can't use their mobile it doesn't occur to them
to look for a payphone.

Robin

I think that you are probably correct.

In message , at 10:14:51 on Sun, 3 Apr 2016,
bob remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.

If it's a choice between using a payphone in the station and waiting till
you reach a landline at your destination, I can see the payphone being
used. If it's a case of just waiting until you get above ground and using
your mobile, I expect people would rather wait.

I got a Rabbit phone so that I could ring up people when I was in London
and let them know if I was going to be late for a meeting, and I would
invariably be travelling around by tube. Previously I'd had an analogue
mobile, but when it broke down I hadn't been using it enough to justify
replacing it.

When Rabbit was withdrawn, one of the compensation packages on offer was
a free Orange phone, although it was still on a contract at £30/month.
The networks weren't subsidising the phones from the monthly contract
back then.

I think there is also an element that most people have, for practical
purposes, "forgotten" about payphones, in that if they can't use their
mobile it doesn't occur to them to look for a payphone.

One of the reasons I didn't use payphones much was they often had
queues, and almost always stank of urine or worse.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:14:51 on Sun, 3 Apr 2016,
bob remarked:

One thing that I did not understand was why they removed the payphones
on the platforms.

Too much maintenance compared to the takings, I expect. Their demise was
probably hastened by the project to give Rabbit coverage to all stations
(in much the same way 20yrs later Virgin wifi).

That Rabbit didn't last more than a couple of years is an unintended
outcome.

If it's a choice between using a payphone in the station and waiting till
you reach a landline at your destination, I can see the payphone being
used. If it's a case of just waiting until you get above ground and using
your mobile, I expect people would rather wait.

I got a Rabbit phone so that I could ring up people when I was in London
and let them know if I was going to be late for a meeting, and I would
invariably be travelling around by tube. Previously I'd had an analogue
mobile, but when it broke down I hadn't been using it enough to justify
replacing it.

When Rabbit was withdrawn, one of the compensation packages on offer was a
free Orange phone, although it was still on a contract at £30/month. The
networks weren't subsidising the phones from the monthly contract back
then.

Oh yes they were.

It was much more necessary then because the entry price for buying a phone
was beyond the "utility" value that a domestic customer would pay

tim

In message , at 12:31:00 on Sun, 3 Apr 2016,
tim... remarked:

When Rabbit was withdrawn, one of the compensation packages on offer
was a free Orange phone, although it was still on a contract at
£30/month. The networks weren't subsidising the phones from the
monthly contract back then.

Oh yes they were.

It was much more necessary then because the entry price for buying a
phone was beyond the "utility" value that a domestic customer would pay

They weren't selling many to domestic customers (if you mean consumers)
back then, because the industry's main market was companies. Calls cost
typically 50p/minute.

Orange and One-to-One started opening it up to a wider audience with
prices which appealed more to the masses, but the Nokia Orange in 1994
was still £299 to buy.
--
Roland Perry