"Plans to close dozens of London Underground ticket offices have been 
reversed by London mayor Boris Johnson. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7484924.stm

That should please them - I had got the impression  though that they were 
going to be moved into more visible roles out on the platforms?

Paul S

In message , at 12:25:56 on
Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Paul Scott  remarked:
>"Plans to close dozens of London Underground ticket offices have been
>reversed by London mayor Boris Johnson. "
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7484924.stm
>
>That should please them - I had got the impression  though that they were
>going to be moved into more visible roles out on the platforms?

From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:

        "From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
        least busy stops to the busiest stations.

Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:

        "Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
        return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
        trips, said TfL. "
-- 
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
> In message , at 12:25:56 on
> From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:
> 
>         "From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
>         least busy stops to the busiest stations.
> 
> Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
> more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:
> 
>         "Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
>         return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
>         trips, said TfL. "

This presumably means that that transfer of staff to big stations like 
KXSP won't happen?  KXSP presumably has a higher proportion of 
over-the-counter sales than, say, my local station Chiswick Park* (which 
was to have lost office staff) so presumably could have done with some 
more staff.  Alternatively, did Boris promise to increase funding for 
staff to fill the gap?

Tom

* where the vast majority of travellers walk through the spacious, 
multi-exited secure feeling hall, Oyster through the barriers and then 
stand for a while on the exposed concrete platform with only one way 
out.  I'd rather have a couple of platform staff than a bored bloke 
behind glass downstairs occasionally selling a couple of tickets and out 
of view of the majority of the public.  London Overground stations 
definitely feel more loved than Chiswick Park now, for precisely this 
reason.

In message <CQKak.206141$1B6.181530@newsfe21.ams2>, at 13:50:42 on Wed, 
2 Jul 2008, Tom Barry  remarked:
>Roland Perry wrote:
>> In message , at 12:25:56 on
>> From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:
>>          "From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from 
>>the
>>         least busy stops to the busiest stations.
>>  Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that 
>>rather
>> more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:
>>          "Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
>>         return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
>>         trips, said TfL. "
>
>This presumably means that that transfer of staff to big stations like 
>KXSP won't happen?

That's a guess, yes.

>  KXSP presumably has a higher proportion of over-the-counter sales 
>than, say, my local station Chiswick Park* (which was to have lost 
>office staff) so presumably could have done with some more staff. 
>Alternatively, did Boris promise to increase funding for staff to fill 
>the gap?

They should increase the staffing at places like KX/StP regardless, in 
order to provide an acceptable service to the public.

Why is it that only Post Offices and Railway Stations seem incapable of 
taking money off people who are desperately thrusting it at them?
-- 
Roland Perry

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:50:10 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

> From the BBC's earlier story, linked on that page:
> 
>         "From March 2008, about 240 staff will be redeployed from the
>         least busy stops to the busiest stations.
> 
> Although the massive queues at KX/StP presumably indicate that rather
> more than 3% of that station's passengers are buying tickets:
> 
>         "Fewer than 3% of Tube journeys are now made on single and
>         return tickets, with Oyster accounting for more than 60% of all
>         trips, said TfL. "

But ticket offices also perform Oyster transactions.  So do the vending 
machines, of course, but (unless this has been corrected in the past two 
years) the vending machines refuse to accept overseas credit cards that 
do not feature UK-style chip-and-PIN.

Last I checked, there was no warning of this fact at either the TfL 
website (which indicates that credit cards are accepted) or the chip-and-
PIN website (which indicates that credit cards without chip-and-PIN will 
be accepted in the UK, with no exception indicated for vending machines).

So a tourist from overseas may well find himself stranded with an empty 
Oyster card and insufficient cash at a station without an open ticket 
window, expecting to "top up" by credit card at the machine.  (If the 
problem with the machines cannot be corrected, there should at the very 
least be a warning on the TfL website, with a list of affected stations 
and, if relevant, the hours that the ticket windows are closed.)

In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a 
security measure.  However, the machines are generally intelligent enough 
to skip that step for non-US-based cards.
-- 
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA

On Jul 3, 12:26 pm, David of Broadway 
wrote:
>
> In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
> security measure.  However, the machines are generally intelligent enough
> to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always
been asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump,
despite having a UK card.

It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay
a fixed amount) before I can fill up.

PaulO

In message 
, at 
05:48:39 on Thu, 3 Jul 2008, Paul Oter  
remarked:
>> In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
>> security measure.  However, the machines are generally intelligent enough
>> to skip that step for non-US-based cards.
>
>That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always
>been asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump,
>despite having a UK card.
>
>It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay
>a fixed amount) before I can fill up.

There are plenty of gas stations in the USA where all customers have to 
do that. And not recently, either - I was caught out like that in Las 
Vegas 20 years ago.
-- 
Roland Perry

David of Broadway  wrote in
news:njpuj5-utv.ln1@greenberger.no-ip.com: 
 
> In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as
> a security measure.  However, the machines are generally intelligent
> enough to skip that step for non-US-based cards.

In my experience, in the last couple of years they have lost that 
intelligence if they ever had it.  Petrol/gas station pumps in particular 
demand zip codes from me, as does an automated system I use by phone 
(though I have found it will accept 11111).  

Many US websites won't accept that anyone lives outside the US, so I 
usually place London in Wyoming as it comes last on the list and could do 
with a few more people in it.  However, a quick Google shows that someone 
is selling a house in 'London, Wyoming' which turns out to be in Ontario, 
Canada so maybe I should choose another state next time.

PeterCS

---
pjcs00 [hosted by] gmail [full stop] com

On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:48:39 -0700, Paul Oter wrote:

> On Jul 3, 12:26 pm, David of Broadway 
> wrote:
>>
>> In the US, many vending machines ask for the cardholder's ZIP code as a
>> security measure.  However, the machines are generally intelligent
>> enough to skip that step for non-US-based cards.
> 
> That's not my experience at gas stations in California. I've always been
> asked for a zip code whenever I've tried to pay at the pump, despite
> having a UK card.

I stand corrected.

> It's a real pain having to leave my card with the cashier (or pre-pay a
> fixed amount) before I can fill up.

Indeed, but an inconvenient option is better than none.  As I've posted 
in the past, I almost got stranded at Edgware in 2006 because the ticket 
office was closed and the machine wouldn't accept my credit card.  And 
when someone exiting the station handed me his Travelcard to try to get 
me out of my bind, the agent at the gate refused to accept it, since 
apparently Travelcards aren't transferable.  (Here in New York, unlimited 
MetroCards are transferable, as long as they're only in use by one person 
at a time.)

(In the end, I did have cash, but I prefer to charge whenever possible, 
especially while traveling, so I wasn't thrilled.  If I hadn't had enough 
cash to get me through the gates, I wonder if the agent would have 
ultimately relented.)
-- 
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA