Amazon to turn London Tube stops into parcel pick-up points?


Amazon is in talks with Transport for London to convert ticket offices into parcel pick-up points.


As part of the radical plan to close all Tube ticket offices in favour of automatic ticket machines, Transport for London and Amazon are talking about converting the offices into drop-off points for goods bought from the site.


The plan is to shut down manned ticket offices across the London Underground system by 2015 in order to fund 24-hour tube operation on the five major tube lines.


This will include most of the Central and Piccadilly lines, the whole Jubilee and Victoria lines and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.


According to the Financial Times, Amazon is talking to tube bosses to find a way to utilise the soon to be abandoned ticket offices into pick-up points for goods.


Currently the online retailer offers Amazon Locker delivery for goods, which allows you to pick up your purchases via the self-service lockers. You can either opt for free standard Amazon Locker delivery or One-Day delivery for £1.99.


These could be installed in London Tube locations by the end of 2015, which would make it easier for commuters to receive their goods.


There are currently only 15 Amazon Locker locations in London, but if the FT rumours are correct there will be many more cropping up within the next 24 months.


The online retail giant has yet to confirm the report.


Boris Johnson, London mayor, is in favour of the 24-hour tube operation plans, claiming that London businesses will greatly benefit from the service.


“It will be hugely valuable to London’s economy, which is increasingly a 24-hour economy, interacting with time zones around the world,” he said.


Tony Travers, a London expert at the London School of Economics added: “This will be hugely popular. It will also be very useful in convincingly selling London overseas as a 24-hour city.”


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