Great Western Coffee Shop

The north (Booking Office) gateline is now working and mannned.

South gateline is in place but not open (on Monday).

One thing my fingers don't seem to work the machine had to get the attendant to help.

South gateline was open on Wednesday - ticket machine wasn't working but seemed to be more because it was brand new and hadn't been fully installed rather than having broken down already. Was able to tap in/out. Attendant in both locations which was good.

Is there going to be two staffed gate lines at Taplow? :o

If its similar to other places around the country it will be remote via CCTV and intercom from the other gateline only 'personed' at busy times

I've travelled off peak a couple of times this week and both have been manned - TfL are maintaining a "human" presence for much longer hours at Taplow than GWR ever did - suspect the new gateline will be attended for longer until everyone gets used to it, tapping in/out and other options etc?

I hope it’s not permanently staffed as that’s a massive waste of staffing costs at such a quiet station IMHO.  A CCTV link is much better and considered appropriate at much busier stations.  As suggested, perhaps this is just whilst passengers get used to it?

Is there another member of staff at the ticket office as well?

TfL Elizabeth Line may have an abundance of staff to deploy until TfL need to start fully manning the 'section 12' stations on the core through London.

Just spoken to Mike Bagshaw from TFLRail at the MMPA AGM.

TfL staff stations 1st to last train, & Taow is no different. However, while numbers are still affected by the pandemic, the south gateline staffing is “on reduced hours”. He didn’t know how reduced, but access is guaranteed outside these reduced hours.

There is no plan currently to adjust these levels until customer numbers return to pre-covid levels for at least some of the week. The eastern end is returning faster than the western end.

Lastly, he mentioned that there is now a “train enthusiast” access ticket that costs 10p per hour. So no free access through the gates.

Suspect the gates are left open if unmanned?

It's a minor pain as it used to be handy to be able to cut through the station but I think the improvements are worth it.

Taplow seems to be quite popular with trainspotters, I see a small group of them there quite regularly, older age group, hopefully the 10p an hour charge won't cause riots!!!

Re MMPA AGM Mike also said that the overbridge can be used by pedestrians when road bridge is flooded.