Yesterday’s Mayor’s Question Time was a rather political one, perhaps unsurprising given that it will be the last one before local and general elections. It was clear that the general theme from non-Conservate Assembly members was to push on various manifesto and mayoral promises, with the mayor being asked to clarify which he had and hadn’t met.
One of the questions that thus came up was that of Ticket ffice closures – something that has been rumoured to be under consideration in the current financial climate.
The Mayor’s reply was clear:
The first and most important point to make is that no ticket offices will be closed, alright? They’re not going to be closed.
In what seems to be a well-executed ambush, however, almost as soon as those words were uttered, it revealed that a document was put together by London Underground at the beginning of March which proposed exactly that.
Parts of that document have now been leaked, and can be read online here.
The consultation paper was put together on March 10th, and details various proposed London Underground ticket office opening hour changes and closures. It is worth pointing out, of course, that it is difficult to establish the context for this report – TfL have confirmed that the document above is indeed theirs and that the Monument Closure it mentions is a typo, but so far no more is known about it.
Nonetheless, it is well worth discussion and analysis and thus we have attempted to summarise it below and highlight some of the key points it contains.
Complete Closures
The document suggests complete closure of the following ticket offices:
– Canary Wharf (East)
– Waterloo (Excess)
– Waterloo (Shell)
– Wembley Park (Bridge Road)
– Earls Court (Warwick Road)
– Aldgate East (East)
– Cannon Street
– Charing Cross (Trafalgar)
– Monument is also mentioned, but TfL claim this is a typo
Two ticket offices are marked as “TBA”:
– Blackfriars
– Kings Cross St. Pancras (Northern)
In Detail: Piccadilly Line
– Acton Town and Alperton ticket offices would open significantly later all week
– Most ticket offices in the Acton Town Group would only open for 2-3hrs at weekends
– Finsbury Park Group ticket offices would generally see weekday opening times reduced by 2hrs in the evenings.
– Caledonian Road and Holloway Road ticket offices would close much earlier on Sundays
– Hyde Park Corner ticket office would only open between 15:45 and 18:30 on weekdays
– Both Knightsbridge ticket offices would open much later on weekdays
– All Heathrow ticket offices would open later and close earlier all week
– Russell Square ticket office would close about 2hrs earlier all week
In Detail: Victoria Line
– A number of ticket offices would close much earlier in the evenings (generally shortened by about 2hrs) and open slightly later.
– Victoria (District) would open earlier and for longer on Sundays
In Detail: Northern Line
– Kentish Town ticket office would close much earlier all week
– Tufnell Park ticket office would close significantly earlier all week (its only open 07:15 – 11:45 on weekdays).
– Brent Cross and Woodside Park ticket offices would only open for 2hrs on weekdays (07:45 – 9:45)
– All Edware Group Stations would see their ticket office hours massively curtailed at weekends (Hampstead would only open 13:30 – 14:30) on a Sunday
– East Finchley ticket office would only open for 2hrs on Saturdays
– Most Finchley Central Group stations would see significant reductions in in office opening hours at weekends
– Goodge Street ticket office would close at midday on Sundays
– All Oval Group ticket offices would close about 2hrs earlier on weekdays (so at around 19:30hrs)
– Borough, Clapham South and Kennington ticket offices would all close early afternoon at weekends
– South Wimbledon ticket office would see much reduced opening hours all week – closing at 18:30 on weekdays, only opening for 1hr 15min on saturdays (11:15 – 12:30) and 3hrs 30min on Sundays
In Detail: Metropolitan Line
– Baker Street (Metropolitan) would close 2hrs earlier during the week.
– Baker Street (Metropolitan), Euston Square and Great Portland Street ticket offices would all close in the afternoon on weekends
– All Harrow-on-the-Hill Group ticket offices (with the exception of Uxbridge and Harrow-on-the-Hill itself) would see significant reductions in their opening times – they would generally only open for 2-3hrs in – the morning on weekdays and 1-3hrs on weekends (generally late morning/early afternoon)
– Rickmansworth Group ticket offices would see much reduced opening hours on weekends
In Detail: Jubilee Line
– Canary Wharf (East) ticket office would close completely
– Canada Water and Canary Wharf (West) ticket offices would close about 2hrs earlier during the week
– Bermondsey and London Bridge (Borough High Street) ticket offices would close early-afternoon at weekends
– Southwark ticket office would close at lunchtime on weekends
– Westminster ticket office would close about 2hrs earlier all week
– Waterloo (Main – Excess) and Waterloo (Shell) would close completely
– Kingsbury, Neasden and Queensbury ticket offices would only open for approx 2hrs in the morning on weekdays, and have much reduced opening hours at weekends
– Dollis Hill ticket office would only open for 3hrs on weekdays, and all other Willesden Green Group ticket offices would close 2hrs earlier on weekdays.
– Most Willesden Green Group ticket offices would close early evening on weekends or earlier
In Detail: District Line
– Southfields and Wimbledon Park ticket offices would only open in the mornings on weekdays
– All Earl’s Court Group ticket offices would close significantly earlier at weekends (With the exception of East Putney, which would have longer opening hours than currently on Sundays)
– Dagenham East ticket offices would only open 08:45 – 09:45 on weekdays and for an hour on Saturdays
– Ticket offices at most Embankment Group ticket offices would shut an hour earlier
– Blackfriars is listed as “TBA”
– Most Embankment Group ticket offices would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
– Chiswick Park, Ravenscourt Park and Stamford Brook ticket offices would only open for approx 1-2hrs all week
– Most other Hammersmith Group ticket offices would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
– Aldgate East (East) and Cannon Street ticket offices would close completely (although Cannon Street is currently due to shut for work anyway)
– Aldgate East (West) and Bow Road ticket offices would close significantly earlier all week
– Bromley-by-Bow ticket office would only open for an hour each day
– Stepney Green and Tower Hill ticket offices would close much earlier on weekdays
In Detail: Circle & Hammersmith
– All Gloucester Road Group ticket offices would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
– Kings Cross (Northern) is listed as “TBA”
– Other Kings Cross St. Pancras offices would close 1hr earlier in the evenings
– Aldgate ticket office would only open between 8:15 – 09:15 on weekdays (it’s already shut all weekend)
– All Liverpool Street Group ticket offices would close approx. 2hrs earlier during the week with the exception of Liverpool Street (Main)
– All Liverpool Street Group ticket offices would close early afternoon on weekends with the exception of Liverpool Street (Main)
– All Paddington Group ticket offices would close approx 1hr earlier during the week. At weekends they would all close early afternoon
In Detail: Central Line
– Bank ticket office would close approx 2hrs earlier all weekend
– St Paul’s ticket office would close at lunchtime on Sundays
– Hainault and Wanstead ticket offices would only open until 09:45 on weekdays and for approx 1-2hrs on weekends
– Woodford (West) and South Woodford (West) would close completely
– Buckhurst Hill Group ticket offices would only open for 1-2hrs on weekdays, with the exception of Woodford (East)
– All Buckhurst Hill Group ticket offices would close in either the early or late afternoon on weekends
– East Acton and Greenford ticket offices would only open in the mornings on weekdays, and until lunchtime on weekends
– Hanger Lane and North Acton ticket offices would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
– Perivale, Ruislip Gardens, South Ruislip, West Acton and West Ruislip ticket offices would close at approx 09:00 on weekdays and approx 1hr earlier than currently at weekends
– Leyton Group ticket offices would generally close about 1hr earlier all week
– Holland Park ticket office would only open for approx 1-2hrs weekdays and Saturdays, and close at 15:30 on Sundays
– Notting Hill Gate ticket office would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
– Shepherd’s Bush ticket office would close at 15:15 on Saturdays
– White City ticket office would close approx 2hrs earlier all week
In Detail: Bakerloo Line
– Charing Cross (Trafalgar) would close completely
– All Charing Cross Group ticket offices would close approx. 2hrs earlier during the week, and Lambeth North would close at 11:00
– Maida Vale and Warwick Avenue ticket offices would close at approx 10:00 on weekdays, and early afternoon at weekends
– Kilburn and Maida Vale ticket offices would close late afternoon (or earlier) at weekends
– Very little change to Wembley Central Group ticket offices
Those interested in some of the ramifications that such changes might result in may wish to visit ToryTroll, BorisWatch and Mayor Watch, all of whom have posts about this document.