London Underground announces it is axing up to 800 jobs
London Underground to cut up to 800 jobs as Oyster success sees ticket office sales fall
Thursday, 11, Mar 2010 01:35
By Sarah Garrod.
London Underground (LU) has announced today it is axing up to 800 staff under plans to save £16 million a year, with increased Oyster card use contributing to the decline of the ticket office.
LU said it proposed to reduce its posts by around 700-800; including 100 managers, 450 staff in ticket office positions and 150-200 other station positions, adding that it proposes to consult with staff and trade unions and then implement any changes by February 2011.
The changes have come partly due to the success of the Oyster card, which has meant there is less of a demand for ticket office staff - with just one in 20 journeys paid for at the counter.
LU's managing director, Richard Parry, said: "We've set out these proposals today because we want to work with our staff, trades unions, customers and key stakeholders to ensure that we can deliver the best customer service more efficiently.
"Our customers and staff should be assured that all of our stations will continue to be staffed at all times while trains are operating, and all stations with a ticket office will continue to have one.
"We are also committed to delivering any change with no compulsory redundancies and, where reductions in posts are necessary, we'll first seek to avoid filling vacancies and redeploy staff to areas where they will be needed in future."
The operator added that since February 2006 it has seen a 28 per cent decrease in ticket office transactions, and a 47 per cent increase in sales at self-service machines, while passenger levels rose to their highest ever at more than one billion per year. Passenger-operated machines now account for over 3.5 million more sales per month than ticket offices, which now account for just a third of all sales on the network.
Despite the job losses, Transport for London said it would be creating "many thousands of more jobs" in the transport and construction industries in London and across the UK in future years, through the upgrade of the Tube, the construction and opening of the new, extended East London line on London Overground and Crossrail, which on its own is estimated to create around 14,000 jobs.