40 Tube Ticket Offices to Close Next March International Traveler / Update: LONDON

London Underground, which operates the world’s oldest below- ground railway, said Tuesday that it planned to close 40 station ticket offices in March and reassign 240 workers as more passengers use prepaid fare cards.

Oyster prepaid cards are used on 60 percent of journeys, while the number of paper tickets has fallen by half. London Underground will add 350 ticket machines. The government is spending l10 billion, or $20 billion, over five years to upgrade the network known as the Tube. The railroad is straining as the city’s population grows. It carried one billion passengers last year for the first time.

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