Fares and Ticketing

As Tubeworker has reported previously, LUL's ridiculous £5 minmum Oyster trial has gone off like a damp squib, with most staff quite rightly ignoring it and selling customers what they ask for.

RMT rightly called on its members not to co-operate, but TSSA was its usual weak self and refused to...

LUL's appalling £5 minimum Oyster top-up trial is up and running - or up and stumbling, more like. Most staff are committed to the 'world class customer service' management continually tell us about, so are happily selling customers whatever top-up they ask for.

That's because we understand that...

LUL is about to run two 'trials' on stations, both of which are bad news for staff.

The trial of 'Textback' - encouraging passengers to text in comments about the serivce and about staff - starts on Rickmansworth group tomorrow, followed by the trial of the £5 mimimum Oyster top-up on five zone 1...

Readers may remember LUL's daft idea of introducing a minimum £5 Oyster top-up at the ticket office window. When management floated the idea last month, Tubeworker pointed out how ridiculous and dangerous it is, and the unions objected too.

Despite this, it appears that management are going ahead...

In the recent fare rises, some child fares went up from 50p to 55p. And as if a 10% rise were not bad enough, there is an additional problem: most POMs don't take 5p pieces, nor do they give 5p pieces in change. So if the ticket office window is closed, then youngsters can't buy a ticket.

When...

It seems that the fantastic shiny new ticket office kit that management installed in the Jubilee Line Extension ticket offices is not all it is cracked up to be. Worse, it appears to be a danger to staff's health and safety.

There has been an alarming number of complaints of apparent Repetitive...

As of yesterday, Tube fares went up by an average 6% - way above inflation, and at a time when our passengers, like us, are feeling the bite of economic crisis.

The Mayor may like to boast that the £4 zone 1 cash fare has been frozen, but that £4 is such a rip-off to start with that it hardly...

The Department of Daft Ideas is certainly having a busy festive season. On top of the silly one we reported a few days ago - getting CSAs to collect excess fares on the gateline on an Oyster card - they now want to impose a £5 minimum on customers topping up their Oysters at the window.

So, imagine...

The Department of Daft Ideas is at it again. Yes, LUL wants to get CSAs to collect fares from passengers who arrive without a ticket. And they want you to do this by carrying an Oyster card and getting the customer to pay their money into a POM and onto your Oyster card.

LUL appear to be...

'Auto-completion' seemed to be playing some kind of joke on passengers over the bank holiday weekend - which of course made life more difficult for staff too.

PAYG customers were charged £2 for a single journey from stations like Greenford to Notting Hill Gate, although the advertised price is £1...