1 London Underground Customer Service Assistant Assessment Practice Materials Section 1 – Introduction Congratulations on being selected to attend the assessment centre for the position of Customer Service Assistant (CSA) for London Underground. This document contains information about what will be required of you at the Assessment Centre and how you can prepare. The assessment will consist of 2 exercises All exercises are designed to look at the skills which are required of a CSA and they will also give you a better indication of what the role will involve. This pack contains details of these exercises and provides practice questions for the tests. These p ractice questions are optional to complete, but are designed to help you prepare yourself before the assessment centre. If you have specific needs which require adjustment to the tools and exercises within the assessment process please communicate them at the earliest opportunity by contacting the TfL Recruitment Team on 0333 0062939 or email support@tfljobs.co.uk . Each request of this nature will be considered on an individual basis and changes made as and w here they are appropriate and reasonable. You must notify is within 48 hours of your assessment to ensure we have sufficient resources in place. If you do not notify us within these times you may not be able to attend your assessment. 2 Section 2 – Description of the Assessment Exercises Data Interpretation and Written Communications Tests Date Interpretation: This is a timed exercise in which you are asked to check the validity of tickets and to use a Tube time table, Tube map and fare table to answer questions which customers may ask you. You are not expected to have any previous knowledge of London Underground but can prepare by practicing basic arithmetic skills (adding and subtracting) and by familiarising yo urself with the Tube map, the zones and its index; practicing how to locate and move between stations on the map using the zone and grid reference. If you require a map in large print, black and white or a different language then please visit www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/ In addition, you will need to be familiar with certain terms relating to London Underground Tickets. These terms are explained in Section 3. Written Communications: This is a timed exercise in which you are asked to check and correct a typical customer notice you may be expecte d to produce. You will need to demonstrate attention to detail in identifying and correcting spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. A practice statemen t is provided lat er in this document. You will also need to demonstrate that your handwriting is neat and easy to read. If you are successful in both exercises following Stage 1 above, you will be contacted to attend Stage 2 which will consist of a Role Play & Competency Based Interview Section 3 - London Underground Terminology If you were offered a position as a CSA, one of your main responsibilities would be to assist customers; whether it is to sell or advise on tickets or provide directions using th e tube. You will therefore be required to use London Underground terminology such as that provided below. It would be advisable for you to familiarise yourself with the terminology that is provided, as the exercises in the assessment will require you to us e this information. 3 Single Tickets: Single tickets are valid for just one journey, within the zones (explained below) indicated on the tickets. Separate journeys, even on the same day, require separate single tickets. The zones that a ticket is valid for are inclusive. For example, tickets stating zones 1 - 4 are valid for all of the zones 1, 2, 3 and 4. Most single tickets are valid only on the day they are bought. The exception is Carnet tickets. These tickets are bought in packs and are each valid until the end of the twelfth month after they are bought. Two dates are shown on a Carnet ticket: the day it was bought and the expiry date. The expiry date is the last day that the ticket can be used. 4 Travel Cards: A travel card is valid for as many journeys as the holder wishes to make, within the dates and zones it is valid for. The ticket is valid on its start and end date and all days in between. The zones a ticket is valid for are inclusive. For example, tickets stating zones 1 - 5 are val id for all of zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Travelcards can be bought for different periods of time: Type of ticket Period of time covered Day Travel card 1 day 7 Day Travel card 1 week 1 Month Travel card 1 month Annual Season Travel card 1 year Peak/Off - Peak: This is a restriction on the time of day that a ticket can be used. Day Travel cards marked as Peak are valid at any time of the day . Day Travelcards marked as Off - Peak are not valid at peak times of the day . You will be told what times of t he day are peak times. This restriction only applies to Day Travel cards and not any other types of tickets. Other types of tickets can be used at any time of the day. Zones: London Underground stations are arranged into zones, which are bands around th e centre of London. The diagram below represents this: The zones are marked on the Tube Map in a similar way to the diagram above. Customers must have a ticket that is valid for all the stations they are travelling through. For example, for a journey from station A to station B, if the customer travels through the centre as shown by the arrow the ticket must be valid for zones 1,2,3 and 4 as the journey includes travel in all four of these zones. A 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 B 5 Lines: London Underground is comp rised of a number of different underground routes, called lines. Each line has a name (for example, the Northern Line or the Bakerloo Line). Each line is shown as a different colour on the map (for example, the Victoria Line is blue and the District Line is Gre en). There is a key on the map showing the name of each coloured line. Stations that have more than oneline passing through them are the points where passengers can change between these differ ent lines. The example below is Oxford Circus where passengers can change between the Central, Bakerloo and Victoria lines: Central Line Bakerloo Victoria Line 6 Section 4 - Practice Questions The following questions are provided for you to practice the skills required in the assessments. The answers to the practice questions are provided at the end of this section. Data Interpretation Test 1. You are required to check the validity of travel documents. Imagining that today’s date is 15 th March 2013, are the following tickets valid for a journey within zone 1? Ticket A: Ticket B: Class Ticket Type STD Price Start date 12JNR13 Expiry date 11 SEP 13 Zones London Underground 13MCH13 £2:10 7 2. You are required to refer to a fare table to answer customer queries. A copy is included below and you will be provided with thi s information on the day. Some example questions are given below. Single Tickets Travelcards Within One Zone 1 day 1 day 7 day 1 month 1 year Zone 1 £2.00 Peak Off - Peak Zone 2,3,4 or 6 only £1.30 Zone 1 - - £18.5 0 £71.10 £740 Two Zones Zones 1 - 2 £6.00 £4.70 £21.4 0 £82.20 £856 Zones 1 - 2 £2.30 Zones 1 - 3 £7.00 £5.20 £25.0 0 £96.00 £100 0 Zones 2 - 3, 3 - 4, 4 - 5 or 5 - 6 £1.30 Zones 1 - 4 £8.00 £5.20 £30.4 0 £116.80 £121 6 Three and Four Zones Zones 1 - 5 £10.0 0 £6.00 £36.3 0 £139.40 £145 2 Zones 1 - 3 or 1 - 4 £2.80 Zones 1 - 6 £12.0 0 £6.00 £39.5 0 £151.70 £158 0 Zones 2 - 4, 3 - 5, 4 - 6, 2 - 5 or 3 - 6 £2.10 Zones 2 - 6 £7.00 £4.00 £23.3 0 £97.20 £101 2 a) A customer who lives in zone 4 is planning to go into zone 1 (and returning) at peak times, 3 times this week. They want to know if it is che aper to buy daily Travel cards or a 7 day Travelcard? b) A customer needs to pay an excess fare of £1.20. They pay with a £10 note though. How much change should you give them? c) A customer wants to know how much cheaper it would be to travel from zone 2 to 3 instead of zones 1 to 3, using a single ticket? 8 3. You are required to answer questions related to the Tube Map and a sample Tube Timetable. Please locate a Tube Map from your local Tube Station or go online at www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/. A small part of a timetable is included below. You will be provided with all the documents you need on the day. The types of questions you may be asked include: a) What zone is Holland Park station in? b) How many stops are there on a journey from Finsbury Park to Tottenham Court Road, changing at Warren Street? c) How long does the 08:31 northbound service from Pimlico take to reach Green Park? For example: Northbound Brixton 0630 Ev e r y 4 m i n u t es unt i l 0822 0827 Stockwell 0633 0826 0831 Vauxhall 0635 0828 0833 Pimlico 0637 0831 0836 Victoria 0640 0834 0839 Green Park 0643 0836 0841 9 Written Communication 4. You are required to identify spelling and grammatical errors in a written passage and then to correct these, as well as demonstrating your handwriting. Read the following passage and correct the errors: “The is a good servise running on all london Underground lines today. pleese make shore you keep youre belonging with you at all times.”