Staff views on whether the appropriate skills and attitudes are in place for the PPPs are mixed:
■ Shadow running was not seen as complete training for the PPPs - thinking was in "wooden £", rather than "silver £" and staff from both LUL and the Infracos (who used to be part of LUL) told us that this meant that they were not commercially incentivised to take decisions with the urgency required under the PPPs.
■ Since the PPPs began staff from both LUL and the Infracos consistently suggested that parts of LUL still has an "old (non commercial) mindset", although there is evidence of improvement, for example in minimising the costs of delayed or cancelled access (See Case study 5 on Access scheduling page 44).
It is unclear if there is less or more variety of opportunities to develop skills under the PPPs. LUL operations staffing levels increased by some 15 per cent (from 11,749 to 13,527) during shadow running, primarily because of increased train services and operational stations (due to the Jubilee Line Extension). Staffing levels in all Infracos also increased during shadow running (overall rise of 22 per cent, from 6,210 to 7,551). There was therefore an increase in total opportunities, although the division into three Infracos may limit flexibility to work on different parts of the Tube network. Staffing levels in the first year of the PPPs have remained fairly constant.