Tackling fare dodgers and making stations safer
New measures to clamp down on fare dodgers and make stations in Streatham and Tulse Hill safer were announced by Labour Transport Minister, Andrew Adonis, yesterday.
The new £5.5 million project will improve security at Streatham, Streatham Hill, Streatham Common, Tulse Hill and 10 other stations in South London using new ticketing gates which will save train bosses from incurring substantial revenue losses. As part of this, ‘wide aisle’ gates will be introduced at every station to accommodate wheel chairs, pushchairs and luggage.
This follows the recent installation of Europe’s longest ticketing line at Waterloo station, where security has improved on trains and passengers can now transfer more easily to Underground services.
From as early as March the new ticket gates will be staffed when operational. From next year they will be staffed for 15 hours per day, including between 7pm and 11pm, improving security and making it safer for passengers to travel late at night.
Explaining the much welcomed investment, Adonis said “as the experience at Waterloo has proven, these measures will improve station security by increasing staffing at night seven days a week”. Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham, added that “delivery is what people want to see and this is tangible evidence of that.”
In total some 68 normal, wide aisle or manual gates are due to be installed by Transport for London (TfL) and Southern. Additional ticket machines will also be installed at Tulse Hill station to make it easier for passengers to purchase tickets.
Chief Executive of Passenger Focus, the rail users pressure group, Anthony Smith, said,
“Gating can bring benefits. Clearly passengers who do the right thing and pay for their ticket should not be forced to subsidise those who try to cheat the system.
“One of the key advantages of installing gates is that they must be supervised and therefore staff are present and visible at the station.
“Passengers tell us that they feel safer when there are staff around and it also means they can ask advice about their journey and easily seek out help.
“However, their introduction should be judged on a case by case basis to ensure paying passengers will benefit from their installation.”
