Who else has noticed the new captions that accompany the POD codes on electric gates?
Instead of just showing the code number, there’s now a little description as well... “36 – Please top up”, “21 – Card already used”, etc. The information was never intended to be a company secret (it's all over the internet, and there’s even a smartphone app you can download which tells you what all the codes mean), and Tubeworker is positively in favour of passengers being more informed about their journeys and ticketing issues.
But why now? Why weren’t the captions added when the electric gates were first introduced? Undoubtedly this is all in the spirit of LU’s plans to help passengers take greater “ownership” of their journey: if the POD codes are captioned, there’s no need for a CSA on the gateline to explain what they mean! Another handy pretext for cutting staffing levels.
But even if passengers can now understand what the codes mean, they still need a staff member to let them through on a 21 or 22 code. And if it’s a 36, and there’s no CSA around, the ticket office has been sold off and turned into an Amazon click-and-collect unit, and there’s no POM on the paid side exit gateline... what then? Passengers may well be forced to “take ownership” of their journey by jumping the gates, risking running into trouble with RCIs or BTP.
The truth is, many passengers don’t want to have to do everything for themselves. That’s why they’ve chosen to take public transport rather than driving. A Tube which runs entirely through passengers interacting with machines, with little or no human staff, might be LU’s dream, but for most passengers as well as us staff, it’d be a nightmare.
