LONDON UNDERGROUND has already broken key promises on station staffing levels – despite making the pledges only last year – leaving nearly half of busy station areas with little or no cover.
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That’s the finding of the independent London TravelWatch group, which visited 57 stations in the autumn of last year and found that in 48% of cases, ticket barriers were either unstaffed or staffed inconsistently.
In 2011, London Underground announced a plan to close and drastically reduce the opening hours of many ticket offices across the network and said that passengers wouldn’t suffer because staff would instead be deployed to the busy barrier gate areas.
“The promise of a highly visible, customer friendly, uniformed staff presence at gatelines was held out as an attractive alternative,” said Sharon Grant, chairperson of London TravelWatch
“It is therefore very disappointing to find that in a proportion of cases, this commitment is not being fulfilled.
“There is a need for consistency in ensuring that gatelines are safe in the event of emergency, but also that fare evasion is not encouraged or achieved.”
The impact of job cuts on the quality of service offered to passengers has long been a bone of contention between London Underground and station staff unions the RMT and the TSSA.
LU representatives have consistently argued that an increase in barrier gate staff would ensure good service and, despite TravelWatch’s survey, that’s the line they’re sticking to now.
“LU does not recognise the picture painted by this report,” said an LU spokesperson.
