History of Ticket Barriers

[dmacw]

Does anyone know what the history is regarding ticket barriers on the National Rail network?

When and where were they first introduced? BR days?

In which locations have they been installed and then removed? (Coventry springs to mind as one)

Which stations have a rather odd set up due to space restrictions etc (Slough with the manual barrier the opposite side of the main barriers for example)

Which barrier lines have been poorly designed with numbers of gates against passenger numbers?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Does anyone know what the history is regarding ticket barriers on the National Rail network?

When and where were they first introduced? BR days?

In which locations have they been installed and then removed? (Coventry springs to mind as one)

Which stations have a rather odd set up due to space restrictions etc (Slough with the manual barrier the opposite side of the main barriers for example)

Which barrier lines have been poorly designed with numbers of gates against passenger numbers?

Leeds is terrible for that, though part of this is down to WYPTE passes not working well on the barriers- something that could easily be corrected.

The new barriers at Huddersfield don't fill me with confidence either...

 

[trc666]

Finsbury Park has a bizarre set up of gates at the moment on platforms 3/4 and 7/8 - just before the actual gateline there are two large manual gates which are supposed to be opened when the gates are unattended, but recently these manual gates are being left open despite the barriers being closed and gateline / revenue staff actually manning the gateline!

 

[Qwerty133]

what i've noticed is that you are more likely to get through an exit barrier than an entrance barrier with a season that doesnt start/end at that station (and that EMT barrier attendants have 0 as to routing)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Does anyone know what the history is regarding ticket barriers on the National Rail network?

When and where were they first introduced? BR days?

In which locations have they been installed and then removed? (Coventry springs to mind as one)

Which stations have a rather odd set up due to space restrictions etc (Slough with the manual barrier the opposite side of the main barriers for example)

Which barrier lines have been poorly designed with numbers of gates against passenger numbers?

A lot of this is only 95% certain, but I'll say anyway!

The first automatic ones were in the late 1980s I think, but I can't remember the first station to have them. Was certainly a major one though IIRC.

Coventry, Canterbury East and Cannon St LUL (I think) are the only ones to have them removed.

Lincoln has a similar set up to Slough, they jut out into the platform and have three gates on one side with the wide aisle gate at the other end.

Victoria LUL station always seems bad for gateseople, but there's not too much that can be done about that right now.

 

[Trainfan344]

Norwich has bad gates as when only one set of barriers is in operation, there are 4 in a set, so two per direction, when a London and Cambridge train come in rather close to each other, this causes chaos at the barriers.

 

[jopsuk]

Cambridge, badly lacking in space, has a "main" line of two wides and three standard gates- the middle gate seems to get switched roughly in line with demand. There's also a single wide aisle gate round to one side, but that's only really of use if you come straight from the ticket windows.

Of course, it wouldn't be half as bad if the area right in front of the barriers didn't entirely fill up with the queues for the machines, people staring at the departure boards etc.

 

[sheff1]

Does anyone know what the history is regarding ticket barriers on the National Rail network?

When and where were they first introduced? BR days?

In which locations have they been installed and then removed?

It depends what you mean by 'barriers'. In the 1980s many suburban stations in the Glasgow area had turnstile style gates which were, if I remember correctly, operated by the booking clerk. I do not know when they were first installed, but they were all removed some time ago.

 

[edwin_m]

In the 1980s many suburban stations in the Glasgow area had turnstile style gates which were, if I remember correctly, operated by the booking clerk. I do not know when they were first installed, but they were all removed some time ago.

Known as Passimeters I think. Google it and you find that they have a long history.

Anyone remember the barriers on London Transport single decker buses back in the 70s, and can anyone recall seeing someone use them? To a 10-year-old at least, they seemed to take up about half the floorspace of the bus.

 

[Lampshade]

Hazel Grove, Brinnington and Bredbury have some sort of 'turnstile' gates.

 

[transmanche]

Anyone remember the barriers on London Transport single decker buses back in the 70s, and can anyone recall seeing someone use them? To a 10-year-old at least, they seemed to take up about half the floorspace of the bus.

Oh yes, I remember them well! And they were not confined to single deckers, the early Daimler Fleetlines (DMS type) had them as well.

In fact, I can blame them for introducing me to the concept of gambling whilst at junior school in the 70s.

~~~wavy lines~~~
I had a choice of bus routes to get me to school. The flat fare bus cost 4p (pay in the farebox, no tickets issued). The conventional bus cost 5p, pay the driver or use the autofare ticket machine/turnstile. I was given 4x2p and 2x1p for my journey to/from school. The turnstile ticket machines came in two types; one with a reject coin lever on the side and one with a reject coin button on the top. Now I forget which was which, but with one of them you could select your fare, insert the coins and at the same time as inserting the last coin select to 'reject coin' and you'd get both your ticket and your money back.

So I could get the 4p bus and that's a guaranteed penny to spend in the sweet shop - that's the safe option and worth a couple of Fruit Salads, or one Refresher. Or I could gamble and go for the 5p bus, which means I could end up with 5p (worth a single Milky Way!) or I could end up with nothing!

Such a dilemma for a 9 year old!

(I even remember the the code for a child fare was AAX...)

 

[WillPS]

NO WAY OUT

That's a rather ominous notice!

 

[Deerfold]

Leeds is terrible for that, though part of this is down to WYPTE passes not working well on the barriers- something that could easily be corrected.

The new barriers at Huddersfield don't fill me with confidence either...

I thought the Leeds one were in a silly place especially with the screens just past them so people tend to stop after going through but WYPTE (as was) did an analysis and decided the gates had not increased congestion at all.

Must just be me as I fight my way on tight connections between Platforms 1-5 and (usually) 8.

Might take a bit to get the scratch-off tickets working on the barriers which is annoying as I often use those. I never seem to have any problems when have a Metrocard.