The ongoing conundrum of Whitechapel Station Ticket Office Closure

In my previous post I had concluded that I was unable to make my mind up about the relative merits of increasing physical accessibility against the potential loss of usability for some passengers. The whole thing is bugging me, as I like to have a bit of certainty. So I decided to think around the problem. I had concluded that there wasn't any public announcement about the loss of the ticket hall.

I confess however, I was wrong; I admit my faults.

I like to promote the view I am generally right about something; that is until I decide I am right that I am wrong. I also like a good Sherlock Holmes reference. So, think of my first post as being an erroneous conclusion by Dr Watson and this to be (I hope) the masterly analysis of Holmes. The situation can be summarised neatly with a quote from 'A Scandal in Bohemia'. 'Watson' writes:

“When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.”

“Quite so,” he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.”

“Frequently.”

“How often?”

“Well, some hundreds of times.”

“Then how many are there?”

“How many? I don't know.”

“Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed.”

June 2010 CAD rendering

In my original post I saw a familiar blue band above a glass window by the ticket barrier and assumed it to be a ticket office. However, if you look more closely however, you can see that the window is actually the wrong side of the ticket barrier, suggesting it isn't a ticket office. What is particularly confusing is the strip of glass coming from the left most barrier - it's not clear why it's there, but is suggestive of accessing the window. What's interesting though is that this graphic was on the internet since at least 2010, as you can see from a June 2010 post on London Reconnections.

In my last post I said there wasn't any public information on the station redesign. Now, I haven't been able to find any official announcements, but I have been thinking laterally about this, and instead headed to Tower Hamlets' planning application database, where I could examine what was officially submitted to see if I could compare and contrast.

May 2011 Rendering

In a planning application (PA/11/01215) submitted on May 16 2011 and approved 12 October 2011, there is a document called 'Environmental Statement - Non technical summary. In that document is the second picture on the page. You'll note the design is different note the style of the roof- not surprising, given a year had passed and this new picture was within the planning application. What is perhaps more surprising is the window with the blue above it...can I spy some words - yes, 'tickets and assistance'. Now the ticket window is clearly accessible from people before accessing the ticket barrier. So, if TfL has removed the ticket office, it is only after re-introducing it.

Paragraph 5.8 delegated report

The delegated report by the planning officer certainly thinks that there would be a ticket office. It states that the 'internal layout of the ticket halll will provide ...the necessary ticket office and other back office facilities. A single gate line of 10 gates...has been allowed for'. So it was sufficiently noteworthy for inclusion in the description of the station.

Section of architectural plans 2011

This interpretation isn't just based on a pretty drawing - the ticket office and even the ticket barriers are actually included on the architectural plans.

Similarly, the cross section of the station shows the  ticket office and barriers.

Cross section 2011 showing ticket office

So, if the ticket office has been sacrificed for a lift, where does the lift go from and to? What I find slightly odd is that the ticket office in the new station is/was proposed to be immediately above the westbound District/Hammersmith and City Line tracks, so the lift can't be where the ticket office is, which suggests there may need to be a significant reworking of the station.

If the lift was installed closer to the station entrance, that would require a long deep lift shaft, with a very long tunnel, just for wheelchair users, which might not be the most cost effective approach. I've illustrated this on the cross sectional diagram in red.

Necessary lift shaft configurations
based on ticket office location

Additionally, the closer to the entrance the lift is, the closer to the entrance the ticket barriers need to be, as otherwise you could just pop in the lift and avoid paying. So either the lift won't be where the ticket office is, but is displacing something else into its place or, there is something very odd going on.

One final note on this whole conundrum is that on the Crossrail site is that the page showing station designs dating from January 2013...shows the original 2010 design! I will see if TfL comes back on my queries and see if the riddle of Whitechapel Station can be solved.

UPDATE: TfL confirm the lift will connect to the district line platform, so will not be where the ticket office was proposed to be. There is still no news on providing revised plans to the public.

Screen grab of link to page with station designs

Screen grab of the link to the
Whitechapel Station designs

Close-up of proposed buildings 2011

2011 plan showing tunnels and shafts

Axiomatic drawing of tunnels and lines

Whitechapel Ticket Office Closure

A bit of digging into the closure of Whitechapel ticket office

Ticket gates at Whitechapel - ticket office to left

A week or so ago, I happened to see a reference to the closure of the ticket office at Whitechapel. Interested I tried to find some information. I couldn't find anything on TfL's website, Crossrail's website had the same artist/architect designs as on the District Line platform at Whitechapel, which clearly show a ticket office, which you can see in the picture on this page.

Then I wondered if this was going to be like Wapping, where there is a physical ticket office, but just isn't open. I then found a petition, which didn't really say much more. What it did tell me is that economy of speech may make for a stronger point in expressing a view. The petition is organised by the RMT union.

Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary is quoted as saying:

"RMT is in no doubt that if the Whitechapel ticket office is axed it will open the floodgates to a surge of closures in the drive to de-staffing which will turn the Undergound into a criminals paradise and leave passengers who need support and advice stranded."

Whilst Bob Crow's emulation of Coolio's theme to Dangerous Minds has me a little worried, such a public display of mixed metaphors has me in cold sweats. To make things worse the press release goes on to use the phrase 'en masse' (which I have been known to employ) published sans 'e' (see what I did there) that makes me feel that the proletariat is getting all nouveau riche (and again) on me.

Having regained my composure from reading pretentious press releases, I was keen to find out where TfL have 'announced' this closure. I contacted the author of the petition on twitter and I was told that the 'plans do not show a ticket office'. I asked twice for a link or source, but to no avail. I again tried searching TfLs website, I searched Crossrail's website, I used google on both sites to filter any reference to Whitechapel in the last six months, all to no joy.

So I thought I'd contact the Crossrail press team (and as a backup plan submitted an FOI request), not expecting to get a reply. However, a day or so later, I got a reply from TfL: Crossrail had passed it on as it was a question on operations, and the station will be operated by TfL.

Thus came the reply:

"As you know, works at the station have already begun, and the current ticket office will be demolished in July next year. At that point we’ll open a temporary ticket hall while works are going on, and that will not have a ticket office. Last year we shared with trade union representatives our plans for the ticket hall which allow us to put another lift into the ticket hall area by not replacing the current ticket hall."

(I assume the last word should read 'office' and not 'hall'.)

TfL also likes a sound bite and for the sake of balance:

Gareth Powell, Director of Strategy and Service Development for London Underground, said:

“London Underground continues to carry more passengers, more reliably and safely than ever before. As we have always made clear, we remain committed to staffing all stations across the Tube network, with visible assistance for customers where they need it most.

“Where we are redeveloping a station we seek to make the best possible use of space, and in some cases this could mean redeveloping a station with increased ticketing technology rather than a replacement ticket office. Our plans for Whitechapel, which will increase station capacity with the arrival of Crossrail and enable us to improve accessibility by providing another lift in the ticket hall area, were shared with trade unions last year. We will continue to discuss changes to ticketing technology on the railway and the huge modernisation of the Tube with our staff."

I've asked if it's possible to get any extracts of the revised station plans to see how it'll look. I've got copies of the originals, so would be interesting to see how the changes affect matters.

As a follow-up question I asked:

Given that there will be 3 lines (2x sub surface, overground and crossrail) - is TfL able at this stage to provide assurance that there will be staff to assist with ticketing?

And pretty quick I got a reply.

"In terms of the assurance that staff will be on hand to assist with ticketing: yes, 100 per cent. Our whole position is based on the fact that customers have voted with their feet over the last six or seven years and now increasingly choose to buy their tickets online or from machines as the most convenient and quickest option, and the aim is to improve that process. To do that we need to make buying tickets simpler for people who want or need to buy travel or resolve issues at stations, and we have to equip our staff better to deal with problems. Underpinning that for us are two core propositions - that we’ll always have staff at stations across the network, and that we’ll use the staff we have in the way that makes them the most use to the most amount of people. That means they should be out and about in the ticket hall and platform areas where they can help people, not stuck behind a window."

Now the question is - is having the staff in an office better than having them assisting at ticket machines? I've asked about the functionality of the ticket machines for things like purchasing national rail tickets and I'm awaiting a reply. I can't help but worry that staff will get dragged away from the ticket machines to just man the barrier, but at the same time, if the station will be more accessible, that must be a better thing, but how do you weight the relative benefits?

I haven't decided what my opinion is yet, and I've got some queries outstanding, but at least TfL are open about it all.