Skip to main content

Shutting up shop: Contact in a contactless network


The Tube is being made fit for the future.  Or so we are being told... 

People are being replaced by machines.  And the windows through which we used to interact are being bricked up.  The memory of dialogue is being erased.  To be forgotten forever?

As someone who commutes, sometimes on two wheels, sometimes on public transport the implications of the closing ticket offices have struck me as significant - quite apart from the deletion of aesthetic pleasures and architectural archive are we not at risk of losing touch with an important facet of travel?  

It occurs to me that many a journey is influenced and informed by a valuable engagement which may take place only briefly but which enables the person anticipating the journey to touch base and confirm their path with someone whom they imagine (rightly or wrongly) knows better.

This casual but perhaps vital double checking would, more often than not, take place implicitly, seamlessly, as a ticket is purchased.  The new set-up demands the passenger-to-be to boldly address their request directly.  And visible does not necessarily equal approachable.





Contact is being replaced by Contactless.  Ticket machines have been installed across the network.  They are part of a clever strategy to save money.  Whether they enhance the passenger experience is the subject of a debate that is rapidly heating up.  

Ticket offices will soon be a thing of the past at virtually all of the Tube's 278 stations.  Staff will be available to greet you at all hours and will stand in the drafty ticket halls rather than behind small windows.  They will point you towards the automated machines which may or may not be able to help you to enjoy the oyster of the network. 









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Table. Apple. Penny.

Whilst there were several places I might have been that morning, I wouldn't have been anywhere else.  The practitioner from the Memory Service arrived promptly.  I liked her instantly.    Mum was nervous.  I think I was a little, too.  It's been a difficult year.   "It's Friday, it's the fourteenth of December and I'm at home..."   No problems there.  CAMCOG, or the Cambridge Cognitive Examination is a thorough assessment tool used to assess the extent of extent of dementia, and to assess the level of cognitive impairment.  The standardised  measure assesses orientation, language, memory, praxis, attention, abstract thinking, perception and calculation.    "Table.  Apple.  Penny."   Three everyday items that were introduced at one point, and then referred to again later on.  Again, Mum was able to recall each.      I am reminded that the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Glass half full? Glass half empty? Or perhaps the glass is broken

I am, constitutionally, a glass half empty gal.  I will always first acknowledge what I don't have, what I have lost, and what it is that I am seeking.  I tend to overlook my strengths, concentrating only on those bits of me that are underdeveloped or weak.  I refer to myself as a realist, but in doing so compliment myself and insult those who genuinely are simply realistic.  My modus operandi is to identify what's not working and acknowledge this before seeing more clearly what functions perfectly well.  This has its place: I edit others' written work pretty well.  My fastidious attention to detail serves me, and the author.  Accuracy counts, for me and I have an excellent memory.  I can remember a great many of my sessions with clients verbatim.  Even this asset is something I can, and do, diminish the true value of, by concentrating on 'I should have said...' or 'why didn't....  occur to me during the session?' Earlier this we...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pausing in the sunshine

And so, chemo is over.  My best friend's diary has been chocker...  Line cleans, blood tests, scans and 18 weekly doses of the gruelling treatment itself.  Summer seems at last to have arrived and with it, we hope, some time, peace and space. She is, we acknowledged over a rather yummy luncheon served to us beneath the beautiful canopy of creepers and climbers at Petersham Nurseries, an inspiration. A small group of us gathered to celebrate her forthcoming marriage.  The sun's rays joined the warmth we all have for this very special woman.  Warmth and, in my case at least, pride. It is the greatest privilege to call this woman my best friend.  She continues to epitomise my understanding of grace.  Our bodies are fragile things.  Our minds are frailer still.  In her composure and wisdom, she possesses an outlook I can only aspire to adopt.  From you, dear Charlotte, I learn and I learn and I learn.   The ...
Post a Comment
Read more