text.news.ntlworld.com wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Everyone's job can be outsourced. Yours, mine, everyone's. But, the
long term goal must be to automate along the lines of New York. It
appears to be coming full-circle. I remember when I was a kid there
were many stations unmanned with one person responsible for a number of
them.

I feel a certain amount of 'safety' at a Tube station, knowing it is staffed
and monitored, particularly at night. Not about terrorism or any of that
guff, but about day-to-day unpleasant thuggery and so on.

I'm in two minds about that. I don't see what most station staff do
now, or can do. If you've got kids spraying graffiti they can ask them
to stop and call the police but not much else. They can't actually
touch them. Same with thuggs, what supervisor is going to intervene? At
my local station kids ride up and down on their cycles, skateboards on
the platform and the supervisors look the other way and watch tv
instead. Not cctv but tv. People jump over the barriers, run across
tracks. I've even see people **** against the side of a train as it was
coming into the station!! What if it's one of those little supervisors,
male or female, that look like they need more protection than you do?
All they'll do is watch from the safety of their office. No, much
cheaper just to get a little office with cctv for multiple stations and
if they see anything wrong, call the police.

But, if it's rape or sexual assault i can see how they might have to do
something. Bit difficult if they're miles away in a control room!

Barry Salter wrote in uk.transport.london on Sun, 01 Jan 2006 13:03:35
+0000 :

I think the TSSA might disagree too...But then they're the only one of
the three not to have had a *National* walkout since the late 40s or
so...

1926 General Strike, actually (though there have been RCA/TSSA ballots
in favour of industrial action since then).

Dave