There are signs up announcing that Oyster cards are available from
National Rail (WAGN) section of Walthamstow Central as of the 22nd of
February.

The WAGN section of station has the bulk of ticket selling space (some
four windows and seven ticket machines), whilst the Underground
section consists of a single window which is often closed.

Anecdotal evidence from staff at St James Street suggests that the
bulk of ticket sales at Walthamstow Central are for people intending
to use Underground services rather than WAGN services, so selling
Oyster here seems a good idea.


Cheers,

Jason.

Jason wrote:

There are signs up announcing that Oyster cards are available from
National Rail (WAGN) section of Walthamstow Central as of the 22nd of
February.

The WAGN section of station has the bulk of ticket selling space (some
four windows and seven ticket machines), whilst the Underground
section consists of a single window which is often closed.

Bearing in mind that the WAGN ticket offices are often shut after a
certain time too.

The Liverpool Street platform ticket office has two machines, but the
two windows seem to shut awfully early (they are often shut when I come
back from work at 6.30, though I think they are mesant to be open later
than that).

On a less good note, the Chingford platform has the majority of the
machines and windows, but because of the atmosphere created by ticket
touts in the evening, none of these windows or machines are accessible
after 9pm at night.

Passengers exiting through this platform now have to go through a
side-gate rather than exiting through the ticket hall. This change makes
it much harder for WAGN customers to remember to touch their Oyster for
a start, and it also makes the entire station a much less pleasant place
to be - the touts not congregate right next to this narrow gate, and the
rest of them hang around at the other platform exit.

The end result is that Walthamstow station is much less safe-feeling
than it was before, and it can often be impossible to buy a ticket from
mid-evening onwards.

We'll have to see what happens once they build the subway to the new bus
station.

I think pressure should be brought to bear upon WAGN, who appear not to
give a toss about customer safety:

http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/ne...437140.0.0.php

Anecdotal evidence from staff at St James Street suggests that the
bulk of ticket sales at Walthamstow Central are for people intending
to use Underground services rather than WAGN services, so selling
Oyster here seems a good idea.

Yep - and that is WAGN's excuse for not giving a toss.

Scuse the rant and change of subject there!

"Dave Newt" m wrote in
message ...

Passengers exiting through this platform now have to go through a
side-gate rather than exiting through the ticket hall.

snip

The end result is that Walthamstow station is much less safe-feeling
than it was before, and it can often be impossible to buy a ticket from
mid-evening onwards.

I think pressure should be brought to bear upon WAGN, who appear not to
give a toss about customer safety:

Shutting ticket offices and opening side gates in the evening is hardly an
unusual operation, nor one carried out exclusively by WAGN.

Perhaps pressure should be brought on the police to arrest the ticket touts.

Dave.

On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 12:27:34 +0000, Dave Newt
m wrote:

The end result is that Walthamstow station is much less safe-feeling
than it was before, and it can often be impossible to buy a ticket from
mid-evening onwards.

How very true. I really dislike using WWCS after the evening rush. It's
bad enough navigating your way through the legions of touts and
undesirables in the rush hour. The whole way in which the place is "run"
is a farce - even when the police are in the Tube ticket hall the touts
are on the stairs and Chingford platform asking for your ticket! Why
they don't arrest these people I do not know.

We'll have to see what happens once they build the subway to the new bus
station.

I wouldn't hold your breath. Unless the police are going to patrol all
the time all that will happen is the touts will have a nice new warm and
secure place to tout and look menacing in. I also do not understand
what, if any, extra ticketing facilities are being provided for the flow
of traffic from the bus station who wish to travel on by rail.

I think pressure should be brought to bear upon WAGN, who appear not to
give a toss about customer safety:

The issue is actually all to do with money. WAGN earn far too much in
revenue and commission from the station to ever give it up. LUL cannot
afford to compensate WAGN for these losses within the framework of their
franchise. I also cannot see LUL wishing to take on liabilities
associated with the WAGN station buildings and entrances (yes those nice
"temporary" structures dating from 1968).

As West Anglia has just been retendered and given to National Express as
part of the Greater Anglia I would not hold your breath for any change
whatsovever (the chance for a change of ownership having been lost for
7-10 years). The prevailing strategy of most TOCs is to do the absolute
bare minimum to the station infrastructure they inherit and to pare down
costs.

The closure of the ticket halls also makes Oyster Pre-Pay inoperative
for WAGN customers travelling to / from Liverpool St. Yet another thing
they didn't think about when taking their "security" decision.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote:

snip

Thanks, Paul - that was a *much* better rant than mine! :-)


The closure of the ticket halls also makes Oyster Pre-Pay inoperative
for WAGN customers travelling to / from Liverpool St.
Yet another thing
they didn't think about when taking their "security" decision.


Actually, I don't think it does, as the Liv St platform ticket off is
still open (and hence the validator is accessible) and even on the
Chingford side, the validator is actually just *outside* the iron gate
that they shut at 9pm.

(I had thought it was on the inside, but I was either wrong, or else
they moved it, as I am pretty sure I double-checked a week or two ago.)

dave