Unions claim cuts will turn the underground into a "criminal paradise"
New ticket office opening hours are to come into effect from Sunday 6th February despite the ongoing row between Tube bosses and workers over job cuts.
The reduction in hours will affect East Putney, Putney Bridge, South Wimbledon, Colliers Wood and Wimbledon Park stations.
London Underground say staff will be deployed to areas of stations where passengers "most value their help and reassurance" and insist the changes are needed to "take into account the success of the Oyster card".
Tube unions claimed that the reduction in hours that ticket offices are manned will turn the underground into a "criminal paradise".
The table below shows details research undertaken by the office of Richard Tracey London Assembly member for Merton & Wandsworth into how ticket office closures will affect local tube stations in the Putney and Wimbledon areas.
Mr Tracey said: "The reasoning behind the reduction in ticket office opening hours is straightforward. Oyster Cards now accounts for around 80 per cent of all journeys on the Tube and just one Tube journey in 20 now begins with a ticket office transaction.
"With so few Londoners now using ticket offices, it makes sense for station staff to be freed from their plastic boxes and utilised in other areas throughout the stations. There is a guarantee that all stations will be manned at all times."
| Borough | Station | Hours lost Mon - Fri per day |
Hours lost Weekends |
Total Hours lost per week |
Total hours lost per local stations in the borough per week |
| Wandsworth | East Putney | 7 hours 15 mins |
11 hours 30 mins |
47 hours 45 mins |
|
| Putney Bridge | 8 hours |
8 hours |
48 hours |
||
95 hours 45 mins |
|||||
| Merton | South Wimbledon | 8 hours |
19 hours 15 mins |
59 hours 15 mins |
|
| Southfields | 8 hours 30 mins |
11 hours 45 mins |
54 hours 15 mins |
||
| Wimbledon Park | 3 hours |
11 hours |
26 hours |
||
| Colliers Wood | 6 hours 15 min |
4 hours 15 mins |
35 hours 30 mins |
||
175 hours |
|||||
| Total | 270 hours 45 mins |
February 2, 2011
|