McNulty Report - ticket office closures, increased fares? (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[SapperPsmith]

Touch in and touch out only became an issue when TfL^» (Transport for London - about) insisted on PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) on heavy rail - it was pushed onto TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) who pointed out the problems that would be caused with passengers who didnt understand the rules.

[Btline]

According to an insider at the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), Theresa May is about to sign a death warrant for scores of ticket offices across the London Midland network.

http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2012/04/10-ticket-office-closures-are-already.html

Commuters have been left fuming as they now face greater queues or bewildering TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine).

To make matters worse, workers have been warned not to reveal this information; instead they will make it look as if LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) is responsible for the axings. This shocking memo has been slammed by passenger groups, such as the Stourbridge line user group.

A source said:

^At a time when train usage is increasing and the public should be encouraged to use public transport, the government is actually discouraging passengers. It^s the wider picture and the implications of cuts which worry SLUG. Face to face contact with staff not only assists the enquiring traveller but it reassures he or she that they are personally secure at a station.

^Lye is not a village station in a remote location ^ it is in a highly populated area. It deserves a new station building and not a basic waiting shelter. Stourbridge Town is to become part of a new bus/train interchange ^ this is no way to introduce integrated public transport. The only people who will gain are fare dodgers and so the whole exercise will be counter-productive^.

I've posted this because it could easily happen to the new FGW^▸ (First Great Western) franchise!

[inspector_blakey]

a) This isn't new. The exact same article has already been posted, in fact:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=7940.msg110107#msg110107

b) Care to give us a source for that alleged SLUG quotation?

c) Can we please cut the hyperbole? It's really starting to get on my tits and I doubt I'm the only one.

[Bob_Blakey]

As much as Theresa May might look favourably on the opportunity to issue death warrants, she is the Home Secretary after all, I doubt they would have railway ticket offices as the unfortunate recipients.

[JayMac]

c) Can we please cut the hyperbole? It's really starting to get on my tits and I doubt I'm the only one.

+1.

What also gets on my nerves is the selective rewriting, random quotes from other articles and no delineation between quoted text and personal opinion.

[TerminalJunkie]

c) Can we please cut the hyperbole? It's really starting to get on my tits and I doubt I'm the only one.

Firefox + GreaseMonkey + Killfile script = moderate contentment.

[Chris from Nailsea]

c) Can we please cut the hyperbole? It's really starting to get on my tits and I doubt I'm the only one.

+1.

What also gets on my nerves is the selective rewriting, random quotes from other articles and no delineation between quoted text and personal opinion.

Indeed: Btline, I ventured to give you a hint when I posted at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10637.msg110120#msg110120 - please can we have less of the hysteria here? 

[devon_metro]

"Outraged commuters AXED from posting hyperbole comments"

 

[Ollie]

Theresa May is about to sign a death warrant for scores of ticket offices across the London Midland network.

Pretty sure she will have absolutely nothing to do with it.

[inspector_blakey]

Yeah, that's only just occurred to me: surely it would be Justine Greening (SoS for Transport) signing off any closures, not the Home Secretary 

[Chris from Nailsea]

As much as Theresa May might look favourably on the opportunity to issue death warrants, she is the Home Secretary after all, I doubt they would have railway ticket offices as the unfortunate recipients.

What he said. 

[inspector_blakey]

She's going to be a busy lady, what with steaming open all our letters, monitoring all of our phone calls, emails, web traffic, texts *and* issuing death warrants for station ticket offices.

[paul7575]

Didn't SWT^▸ (South West Trains) go through exactly the same procedures as this only a couple of years ago?  That was also the subject of much TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) generated media coverage - but what actually happened at the end - not much if I recall.

SWT published a long list of proposals for variation of opening hours but hardly any actual complete closure, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) knocked a few back, DfT varied a few opening hours here and there, and life went on...

I've read the relevant section of the McNulty report, and it can be read in two very different ways.  One is that all Cat E stations should be considered (collectively) for closure.  Or how about each Cat E station should be considered (individually) for closure?

Paul

[paul7575]

Touch in and touch out only became an issue when TfL^» (Transport for London - about) insisted on PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) on heavy rail - it was pushed onto TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) who pointed out the problems that would be caused with passengers who didnt understand the rules.

No it was earlier.  The maximum cash fare deduction was already in place on LU within a few months of PAYG introduction, practically as soon as they discovered that some people were not touching out - usually at combined LU/NR^» (Network Rail - home page) stations, and at ungated LU stations.  The eventual problem for NR and LU was that the 'entry fee' wasn't high enough for some longer journeys, such as out to the far end of the Met, and to Watford Jn.  So when the initial batch of mainline rail services were added (mostly in north London) the maximum cash fare charged at certain LU and mainline stations was also increased.  However, at that time the only TfL literature that gave an explicit figure for the max cash fare was the pamphlet describing PAYG on NR services - and I think this led people to believe that it was just an NR thing. 

This was discussed at length in the uk.transport.london usenet group at the time, and confirmed by a TfL staff member.  TfL's Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) publications have subsequently been amended and now reflect that some sort of max cash fare is charged at all entries, but just give a generic 'up to ^7.80' - which is the highest peak charge.

Paul

[JayMac]

Didn't SWT^▸ (South West Trains) go through exactly the same procedures as this only a couple of years ago?  That was also the subject of much TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) generated media coverage - but what actually happened at the end - not much if I recall.

Travel centres were closed at places like Southampton, Salisbury, Woking, Basingstoke....