Station staffing models

[Timmyd]

As a humble passenger with an interest in the railway, I’m curious how the number of staff at a station is determined. I should stress that while this is prompted by the current strikes I’m not taking sides here, just genuinely curious.

The station I use every day, Herne Hill, usually has at least 4 members of South Eastern staff on duty when I travel to work in the morning. Two in the ticket office (where it is very rare to see a customer at the window, given 95%+ customers must use Oyster now), and a couple on the platform. One of those is behind the desk in an office, the purpose of which I don’t really understand, and then there’s often one on the platform. On the rare occasions I’ve ever needed help all of them are very friendly. I have never once had a ticket checked on the station.

When I return from work after 7pm, there are no staff on the station, the ticket hall is locked, and exit is through a narrow gateway into a dingy subway. If I was a woman waiting on my own I’d find it intimidating to wait for a train there at night. Yet very lightly used stations which my train has passed through (eg Wandsworth Road) will have had a member of staff on the platform because they are operated by London Overground.

My question is whether are these staffing patterns historic? Has any attempt has been made to balance this out so perhaps there might be 1 or 2 on duty at any time? Why does the platform need staff in the morning peak but the whole station can manage without any at the times customers most need a staff presence?

 

[Geeves]

I can only speak from experience elsewhere but it looks like South Eastern tried to mostly go for a 0600 - 1930 standard opening for the majority of their stations, looking at schedule 17, of course some are open less and some more. As for staff it sounds like two are on shift in the morning and one in the afternoon till evening. One person behind a desk will likely be for passenger assistance on the platforms, not sure on person 4! Does sound like they are going on historic ticket sales, IE busy in the morning peaks and quieter in the afternoon

Some stations are open alot later due to lifts and doors to be locked but its becoming rarer now. The stations I worked you were the single person so you did everything, cleaning the station, helping passengers off the trains, changing posters and ticket sales. Quite a satisfying job, I am glad to have been involved before it becomes history !

 

[30907]

Herne Hill almost certainly needs platform staff to assist with dispatching trains - DOO operation plus curved platforms - and when I've changed there (almost always off peak) ISTR staff on the Down side. Happy to be corrected.

 

[Taunton]

If I was a woman waiting on my own I’d find it intimidating to wait for a train there at night.

Where we live on the DLR none of the stations have ever been staffed since it opened more than 30 years ago, yet my family have no qualms about riding on it late at night. Particularly noticeable at the likes of Greenwich or Lewisham where the station is shared with your operator South Eastern, one side with staff, the other completely unattended. I think a lot is just to do with historic expectation.

 

[ComUtoR]

Herne Hill almost certainly needs platform staff to assist with dispatching trains - DOO operation plus curved platforms

They play no part in dispatching trains there.

 

[43066]

Herne Hill almost certainly needs platform staff to assist with dispatching trains - DOO operation plus curved platforms - and when I've changed there (almost always off peak) ISTR staff on the Down side. Happy to be corrected.

No staff dispatch at HH, it’s all done by drivers via monitors. Staff are on the platforms to “hurry people along” at peak times.

Same idea as at Lewisham.

 

[Timmyd]

Yep if help was needed with dispatch presumably they’d be needed there all the time. The staff are only on the upside where the office is, very rare to see any on the down even in the evening peak, unless a disabled passenger needs help or anything. The station certainly feels overstaffed in the middle of the day and understaffed in the evenings.

Where we live on the DLR none of the stations have ever been staffed since it opened more than 30 years ago, yet my family have no qualms about riding on it late at night. Particularly noticeable at the likes of Greenwich or Lewisham where the station is shared with your operator South Eastern, one side with staff, the other completely unattended. I think a lot is just to do with historic expectation.

The difference with the DLR is generally they are light and open stations. Herne Hill is not with subways for access. LO has stations staffed at all times and the improvement this has led to is really noticeable, especially on the North London Line. With HH you wouldn’t even need to increase staff, just redistribute them.

 

[43066]

Yep if help was needed with dispatch presumably they’d be needed there all the time. The station certainly feels overstaffed in the middle of the day and understaffed in the evenings.

Unfortunately, as you likely know, this is a general problem with Southeastern’s stations.

 

[stuu]

Bit surprised there still aren't gates at HH. I moved away from there in 2010 and they were talking about installing them back then. There used to be very regular ticket inspection blocks, with police at the top of the stairs to catch anyone who turned around when they saw the checks.

 

[Taunton]

The difference with the DLR is generally they are light and open stations. Herne Hill is not with subways for access.

Not necessarily. At Lewisham it's the DLR in the dungeon with main line out in the open above. Greenwich even more divided, with separate entrances for each, but once inside you realise they are either side of a shared and not divided island platform.

 

[Timmyd]

Bit surprised there still aren't gates at HH. I moved away from there in 2010 and they were talking about installing them back then. There used to be very regular ticket inspection blocks, with police at the top of the stairs to catch anyone who turned around when they saw the checks.

I agree but those stopped years ago. The ticket office has been remodelled since you left and there’s an enormous space which could easily accommodate barriers. Instead you have three awkwardly placed oyster readers in the subway and, I suspect, a lot of ticketless travel especially as many major destinations from there (eg elephant, and all the stations as far as Bromley S) are ungated

Not necessarily. At Lewisham it's the DLR in the dungeon with main line out in the open above. Greenwich even more divided, with separate entrances for each, but once inside you realise they are either side of a shared and not divided island platform.

But you also know at those stations there will be a train with a very prominent customer-facing member of staff along within 5 mins

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Take a trip to Germany where there is very little visible presence on the S Bahn stations just the train drivers

 

[WesternBiker]

Take a trip to Germany where there is very little visible presence on the S Bahn stations just the train drivers

I was particularly struck by that on a trip to Munich a few years ago: even the stations underground seemed devoid of any staff presence. Certainly no ticket offices, just ticket machines.

I've also noticed an absence of ticket offices in the Netherlands recently - again lots of ticket machines. Have ticket offices completely disappeared there?