A Bank/Monument SAMF explains why London Underground should not be cutting ticket office staff and opening hours on the group ...

Summary:

1. The job cuts victimise ticket office staff.
2. Current staffing levels are inadequate to meet local needs.
3. Bank/Monument complex requires at least current staffing levels to deal with existing ticketing issues.
4. Ticket office staff are the only ones who can offer the best customer service on ticketing issues.
5. There are too many flaws with the Oyster system now that it has expanded.
6. Most Oyster problems can only be resolved at ticket offices; other outlets eg. shops, online and helpdesk can not do this, and do not offer a personal service.
7. Customer numbers are growing, there so are the problems due to the complicated Oyster system.
8. We can not continue working under pressure, with little job satisfaction, concerns over job security and very low morale.

It seems clear that there is a systematic victimisation of ticket office staff, who are obviously seen as a soft target.

Someone knows enough about the Bank group to unfairly reduce our numbers below what we believe are our minimum requirements, and this impacts on both customers and staff.

At Bank/Monument, which is the only 2-in-1 station complex on the network, we have a severe shortage already, since the company closed the Northern ticket office in February 2006. This office was generating over £1 million per year at the time of its closure.

Our company is trying again to save money by picking on the soft target, the ticket office. Management say that sales have fallen, but this is no surprise as they have reduced opening hours since February 2006!

They ignore the valuable customer service provided by the ticket office staff, with the personal touch to offer the best ticketing produce from our ever-confusing Oyster range. This service is far superior to what any other outlet, machine or online service could ever offer.

All ticket offices in the Bank group ask that our local needs be recognised, appreciated and valued by maintaining current staff levels.

At Bank/Monument, this is especially valid as the closure of the Northern ticket office has meant added pressure to gateline staff.

The ticketing issues are growing, in particular with Oyster, and include:

• insufficient funds
• out of zone
• incomplete journeys (not touching in or out)
• out-of-date season tickets (for which the Oyster signal / warning is poor)

All the above happen constantly, partly because of our link to Docklands and Waterloo.

This will leads to confrontation when ticket offices are closed, which will increase as customers search for an open ticket office.

It is not very good customer care or service, and hardly ‘world class’.

Problems also arise with POMs, as they are not serviced adequately since the cuts in February 2006.

One of our main problems is unresolved journeys, which can only be resolved at a ticket office.

This happens because of our Oyster network having so many places to enter and missing the Oyster scanner. eg. Docklands, Waterloo, many national rail stations and outlying LU stations that may have their gates open. This is compounded by the never-ending engineering works which confuse many customers.

We have a growing number of new customers, visitors, tourists and casual travellers eg. daytrippers, many of whom have trouble with Oyster. We know that only we in the ticket office can offer an excellent to these people.

Add to all this, our pricing literature (which arrived after the 2 January 2010 fares increase date) only mentions Oyster pay-as-you-go. We expect customers to go online to find out about weeklys, season tickets, paper tickets etc – hardly customer-friendly for those mentioned above!

It seems now that ticket office staff have to be busy at all times to satisfy management, as they do not accept that all grades have slack periods but are there to offer help and other services.

All ticket offices, at whatever station, have lots of other issues to deal with:

• giving directions
• local knowledge
• literature
• current leaflets
• impending engineering works

Plus, we have to check stock and storage, deal with delivered items that can sit at Monument for days until we have time to handle it, which often involves carrying it to Bank! We have to update records, logs, traffic circulates user handbooks and other documents.

The 2 January 2010 fares has caused an extra problem in trying to implement the ‘new’ Oyster pay-as-you-go prices. We now have:

• Oyster peak / off peak LUL only
• Oyster peak / off peak national rail only
• Oyster peak / off peak LUL and national rail

We also have to explain that all Oyster weeklys / season tickets revert to a pay-as-you-go Oyster if not touched in at start of journey.

This has caused many disputes with our regular commuters, who did not used to have to touch in!