The body that represents public transport users in London is to ask the operator of Great Northern and Thameslink rail services to reconsider its proposed changes to ticket offices, including those at Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill.
The Board of London Travelwatch met on 22nd March to consider Govia Thameslink Railway's proposals, along with a report prepared by the London TravelWatch Secretariat and some 8,000 responses to the consultation from various organisations and individuals, plus several petitions. Following its meeting the Board issued a statement saying that it was not able to support the proposals at the moment and suggesting that GTR should "develop a more considered proposal which could be piloted at a few carefully chosen stations".
Some of the issues involved are described in the Board's statement and in the Secretariat's report. They included
- reliability of ticket vending machines and the ability to buy all types of ticket at them
- exactly how and when the planned station hosts would work and when they would be available, especially in complex stations
- the ability to handle cash transactions.
It was noted that in Monday and Tuesday morning peak hours ticket offices at some of the "Model 1" stations sell large numbers of weekly tickets, in excess of the figure of fewer than 12 tickets per hour used to define "Model 1". London TravelWatch consider that proper ticket offices should be in operation at such times. Palmers Green is one of the stations that Govia has assigned to "Model 1".
Further information
An earlier report on Palmers Green Community - to be read in conjunction with the forum comments below it, which include some more detailed information
The statement by the London TravelWatch Board
The Report prepared by the London TravelWatch Secretariat (note that the Board did not fully endorse the recommendations in this report and has instead taken a firmer line with Govia).
