On Jul 14, 8:44 pm, wrote:
I like to think that the
situation will improve when LU/LO take over their respective stations
come December 2007 but if the sort of ticket office staffing levels
follow what is being planned for the existing LU suburban system it
doesn't look too hopeful.

Eh? LU isn't un-staffing its stations, it's redeploying ticket office
staff to general customer service roles.

& I'm not sure a bloke selling tickets behind a security glass window
is much use if you're being mugged or stabbed either.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On Jul 15, 10:42 am, John B wrote:
On Jul 14, 8:44 pm, wrote:

I like to think that the
situation will improve when LU/LO take over their respective stations
come December 2007 but if the sort of ticket office staffing levels
follow what is being planned for the existing LU suburban system it
doesn't look too hopeful.

Eh? LU isn't un-staffing its stations, it's redeploying ticket office
staff to general customer service roles.

& I'm not sure a bloke selling tickets behind a security glass window
is much use if you're being mugged or stabbed either.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot orgwww.johnband.org

They are reducing the total number of station staff though.
There are already a number of stations that are left un-staffed due to
staff shortages following the first part of the Shorter Working Week,
when Ticket Offices were closed and station staff numbers changed!

Is the former ticket seller at Bow Road walking up and down the
platform at night to "reassure" me and enforce the smoking ban? No -
because that duty/post no longer exists on the rota there. He or she
might be filling a vacancy at a busier station, or be in training for
driver, but the idea that LU have introduced some form of "reassurance
patrol" is just plain lies.

The ticket office was the one place passengers could expect to find
staff, not in often anonymous control rooms. And help points are a
great way of attracting attention to yourself, not ideal if you want
to 'covertly' draw staff's attention to something (you think you're
being followed, kids smoking dope, the muttering nutter with backpack
etc...).

wrote:
Is the former ticket seller at Bow Road walking up and down the
platform at night to "reassure" me and enforce the smoking ban? No -
because that duty/post no longer exists on the rota there. He or she
might be filling a vacancy at a busier station, or be in training
for driver, but the idea that LU have introduced some form of
"reassurance patrol" is just plain lies.

The ticket office was the one place passengers could expect to find
staff, not in often anonymous control rooms. And help points are a
great way of attracting attention to yourself, not ideal if you want
to 'covertly' draw staff's attention to something (you think you're
being followed, kids smoking dope, the muttering nutter with
backpack etc...).

Are you saying that Bow Road is now planned to be unstaffed at night, or
that it is unstaffed until a vacancy is filled? If the former, that
seems to be contrary to LU's stated policy.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

I'm saying that the staff in the ticket office have *not* been
redeployed on the station to "reassure" me(and others), they are no
longer there.