First Capital Connect are planning to cut the hours the ticket office is open at Harringay Station by more than half. They plan to close the office completely on Saturday and almost 4 hours earlier on weekdays. The detailed proposals are on the London Travelwatch website. They plan similar cuts to most other local stations as well - including Hornsey Station.
Our local MP Lynne Featherstone has already launched a campaign against the cuts with a video at nearby Alexandra Palace Station. I agree with her that reducing the hours that stations are staffed will make them feel less safe, and of course it make it harder to get tickets. Crime has been a concern at Harringay Station and my colleague Cllr Laura Edge has succesfully pushed for CCTV at the Quernmore Road entrance.
My colleague Cllr Laura Edge at Harringay Station when she was campaigning succesfully for CCTV at the Qurenmore Road entrance
I think we should be trying to increase staffing at stations to encourage more people to use public transport (though that doesn’t necessarily mean staff stuck behind glass screens in offices – but out on the platforms helping passengers!). I believe this is what is happening at stations that have been taken over by ’London Overground’, so this First Capital Connect proposal seems very retrograde.
I’ve contacted Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch whose job it is to listen to and act on passengers’ complaints – urging them to stop these cuts. The consultation ends on 3rd February so if you want to have your say then send your email to enquiries {at} londontravelwatch.org(.)uk as soon as possible. Please also copy your email to Lynne at lynne {at} lynnefeatherstone(.)org so she is aware of how many people are supporting the campaign.
Apparently, Passenger Focus and London Travelwatch have recently been successful in stopping similar ticket office cuts by South West Trains - so this is definitely a battle worth fighting!