Boris Johnson revealed this week South Londoners will benefit from the expansion of Oyster top-up machines for all South West Trains’ stations.
By David Churchill
Boris Johnson revealed this week South Londoners will benefit from the expansion of Oyster top-up machines for all South West Trains’ stations.
But the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) say the scheme could create job losses and safety concerns.
London commuters are currently unable to top-up Oysters on major south west stations such as Waterloo without visiting a ticket office.
However Mr Johnson says a new agreement between the train operator and Transport for London (TfL) will see top-up machines introduced on all stations by May 2011, including platforms such as Wimbledon and Raynes Park in Merton.
Speaking at Mayor’s Question Time, he said he was proud of the long-running agreement making journeys more convenient for commuters, adding: “This deal was a particularly difficult fish to land, and we have landed it.
“South West Trains have had a series of objections until now about who pays for the new ticket machines.”
However the RMT has expressed uncertainty over the scheme.
“There is a worry that introducing these machines might see ticket offices reduced and that has precisely been our battle with South West Trains,” said an RMT spokesman.
“The operators are seeing this as a way of reducing staffing.”
He added: “South West Trains is one of those train operating companies that’s been chipping away at ticket office opening hours and has actively been reducing the numbers employed in ticket offices.
“Our view is there are already far too many stations where people don’t have the opportunity to actually speak to a human being about their ticketing requirements.
“That’s also got safety implications late at night and early in the morning, particularly for woman travelling alone. It’s all very well making Oyster available at machines but when something goes wrong people need somebody to talk to.”
South West Trains confirmed they would be funding the project from a £50million fund which forces them to make improvements under terms of their franchise with the Department for Transport (DfT).
The franchise requires them to roll out the Government-standard ITSO technology which makes platform top-ups possible.
“Since the launch of Oyster travel on our services earlier this year, we have been committed to finding a solution to make it possible for passengers to also top-up their Oyster cards at our stations,” said South West Trains’ Managing Director, Andy Pitt.
“This significant improvement will provide us with an opportunity to offer even more choice for our passengers.”
A spokeswoman added: “There are no plans in place to reduce any ticket office staff as a result of the roll out of Oyster retailing.”
