Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,180
I've only just read your post, but can confirm that ticket machines were at the heart of London Transport's lobbying for the retention of the old sixpenny piece. I worked in both Bus and Underground Depts in the years both before and just after D-Day, but imo it was the Bus Operating Dept that was the most vociferous in wanting to retain the coin, on the basis that flat-fare routes like the Central London Red Arrows relied on a simple, one coin machine to speed boarding and getaway, and a doubling of fare to 5p (an old shilling) to achieve this was utterly out of the question. Happily, many MPs in those days, even Cabinet Ministers, used both Red Arrows and the Underground, and a P.R. exercise helped by support from the Evening Standard had the desired effect.I have been reading that the old sixpenny coin was kept in temporary circulation post D Day, at the behest of London Transport, whose ticket machines and fare structures were based on increments of 2 1/2 p. See "London's Underground" by John Glover