Transport for All (TfA) members raised concerns regarding Mr Johnson’s Fit for the Future plan, which involve closing all 301 ticket offices and making 897 ticket officers redundant by next spring.
Imtiaz Patel, a visually-impaired TfA member who was forced into early retirement because of his disability, said he regularly has problems at East Ham station and that this move will only make things worse.
“I need assistance just to get down the stairs,” he said. “Nine-hundred job cuts is going to mean there are less people around to help (Ed: Fewer, damn you!). It’s going to have a major impact and make it even more difficult to travel – it’s a big disappointment.
“We don’t know what assistance will be at the other end of our journeys instead of ticket offices.”
But if they aren't stuck in the ticket booth then surely...?
Transport for London (TfL) claims redeploying remaining ticket officers will benefit passengers.
“They can serve the public better around the station than stuck in an office,” a spokesman said.
“There will be more people than ever before to assist in public areas.”
Hurrah! Problem solved!
But Imtiaz still has reservations, adding: “The font on the machines is too small – they’re so stressful to use.”
Life is stressful. Get over it.
4 comments:
Right now I am in Hythe, Kent. Not a buzzard or kite to be seen. Lots of seagulls. Maybe that's why Chihuahuas are not native to these shores. Stressed? All of the time I'm stressed. These poor fking seagulls having to eat dog instead of pussy. I feel their pain, I really do.
"...there are less people around to help..."
But if they're employing those who have lost limbs, there genuinely could be "less people around"...
What a load of whining bollocks from this Transport for All wallah. I have travelled through East Ham station on a regular basis, including accompanying a person with limited mobility and other issues. The station has an almost perfect system of access from street to platform level, the signage is legible, there are easily accessible wheelchair gates and there is a choice of ticket machines some of which are standalone rather than being part of a bank of ticket machines.
With the increased number of platform and concourse staff that will be the outcome of closing the ticket offices the issue of the 'small font' on some ticket machines will really not be an issue at all.
Methinks that this whiner is looking for something to whine about.
As I know East Ham station quite well, I'd say that the main problem for a vulnerable disabled person using this station is not the 'small font' or other access issues but the plethora of mostly imported two-legged rats which infest Newham and who see a person with difficulties not as someone to be helped but as prey.
"Stressed? All of the time I'm stressed."
It's part of life!
"...there genuinely could be "less people around"..."
Well, yes. He didn't say 'fewer', after all.. ;)
"The station has an almost perfect system of access from street to platform level, the signage is legible, there are easily accessible wheelchair gates and there is a choice of ticket machines some of which are standalone rather than being part of a bank of ticket machines."
Yup, I've yet to find a station that doesn't have whatever it can physically cram in for disabled passengers. OK, lifts often break down, but they get a lot of wear and tear!
He is, indeed, looking for something to complain about. Why not ask actual passengers, instead of those who self-select, looking to make a fuss?
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