Keep ticket offices open at tube stations

Please campaign against the proposal by Transport for London to completely close the ticket offices at Totteridge and Whetstone, West Finchley and Mill Hill East stations on the Northern Line as part of the closure of 40 ticket offices across London.

Any savings will be outweighed by a large fall in revenues from those stations, I believe. In addition, difficulties in buying a ticket are likely to cause many people to switch to alternative travel methods, while a heightened feeling of insecurity when no staff are around may put people off travelling by Underground, they say.

Revenues will fall at the three local stations because some people will be deterred from using the Northern Line and others will take advantage of the lack of supervision to travel without paying.

Around 40 pct of underground travellers still use paper tickets, according to TfL's own figures, and many of these are tourists and other infrequent travellers who are quite likely to need assistance.

In any case, TfL's claim that ticket offices are not needed at the three stations because most people use Oyster cards does not hold water, since the offices are not just used by people buying traditional paper tickets. Even Oyster users will need the ticket office from time to time, when they are having problems with the machine or if they have lost their card and need a replacement.

If, as TfL insists, staff will be redeployed elsewhere on the three stations, there is no reason why duty employees should not open up the ticket office as and when requested by travellers. Instead, even before the official closure date, staff are barred from selling tickets through the window outside the already-restricted opening hours.

The ticket office is the obvious place for anyone to go to if they want help with buying a ticket or need assistance reaching the platforms because of infirmity or disability. Similarly, if someone sees something suspicious, feels threatened or is actually being threatened or attacked, he or she will receive help much more quickly if there is someone visible at the station to appeal to, rather than use the communications devices which are being installed on local stations.

"The closure of the ticket offices at Totteridge and Whetstone, West Finchley and Mill Hill East is likely to have a gradual and cumulative effect on the number of people using those stations. People who have a bad experience once may decide not to use the tube on future occasions when they might otherwise have done so," said Andrew Newby, Barnet Green Party speaker on the environment.

For more detailts or to comment contact andrewnewby1@gmail.com

To make your own protest contact:

Customer Service Centre

London Underground

55 Broadway

London

SW1H 0BD

tel: 0845 330 9880

Set 20 mph limit near homes

All residential streets should have a 20 mph speed limit, along the lines of the plan agreed by Portsmouth City Council.
The limit could be a new safety measure or could be a replacement where road humps or other traffic calming installations have been removed.
Emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances are already exempt from speed limits so their journeys would not be hampered in any way.
Another advantage of a 20 mph limit is that much less petrol is needed to drive at a steady 20 than to keep slowing and accelerating, as many drivers do on roads with speed humps.
At a time when many children are being prevented from playing outside because their parents fear the potenial dangers, we should consider anything which can make the streets safer for our children to enjoy fresh air and get much-needed exercise.