Closest station to Central London without passing through a gateline?

[Mikey C]

The problem at Euston is that the concourse already gets crowded, and you need to maintain access to facilities like the toilets.

I doubt you could put gates on the ramps themselves. In any case gates are arguably not suitable for long distance services.

Avanti trains should really be doing their ticket checks done onboard, although I don’t see anything inherently wrong with a manual check before boarding, as long as this is done in a customer friendly manner.

LNR from ungated platforms are more of an issue, again all of these trains could have ticket checks done onboard if there was a will.

Kings Cross is entirely gated, and nobody thinks that's unusual.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Kings Cross is entirely gated, and nobody thinks that's unusual.

Most of Paddington is too.

 

[Hadders]

Kings Cross is entirely gated, and nobody thinks that's unusual.

Kings Cross has a combination of long distance and outer-suburban services. In any case, in my experience, the barriers are often not in operation.

 

[The exile]

If we take the centre of London as the equestrian statue of Charles I at Trafalgar Square, then Charing Cross Station is likely our winner of "closest station to Central London" then!

Arguably the centre is the “substitute” Eleanor Cross in the forecourt of the station itself- though aren’t road mileages taken from Guildhall?

 

[renegademaster]

Kings Cross has a combination of long distance and outer-suburban services. In any case, in my experience, the barriers are often not in operation.

The exit gates almost never seem in operation, the entrance ones are normally though as long as it isn't really busy

 

[Recessio]

Arguably the centre is the “substitute” Eleanor Cross in the forecourt of the station itself- though aren’t road mileages taken from Guildhall?

Road mileage zero-point is the aforementioned statue of King Charles I. It's on the former store of an Eleanor Cross.

The actual geographical centre of Greater London is somewhere near Lambeth North Station, which by that definition I think would therefore make Elephant & Castle NR Station the closest to the centre of London without ticket barriers?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Kings Cross has a combination of long distance and outer-suburban services.

So does Euston. Euston may be busier, but there's really very little difference between it and Kings Cross in terms of the service mix.

"You can't gate Euston because it has long distance services" is an utter fallacy. Most stations with long distance services are gated in 2025.

 

[Hadders]

You’re missing the point.

Installing gates whete there are long distance services then gives carte-blanche to doughnut.

Yes, I know onboard checks should still take place but the generally attitude will become one of not bothering ‘because we’ve got ticket gates’.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You’re missing the point.

Installing gates whete there are long distance services then gives carte-blanche to doughnut.

Yes, I know onboard checks should still take place but the generally attitude will become one of not bothering ‘because we’ve got ticket gates’.

Doughnutting and similar is certainly a risk. But it's getting easier to detect by way of looking for suspicious transaction patterns on the likes of Trainline - we see lots of this in the Disputes subforum. And there is a lot of money saved by only requiring maybe two members of staff on the gateline compared to 2-4 per boarding train.

 

[Hadders]

Doughnutting and similar is certainly a risk. But it's getting easier to detect by way of looking for suspicious transaction patterns on the likes of Trainline - we see lots of this in the Disputes subforum. And there is a lot of money saved by only requiring maybe two members of staff on the gateline compared to 2-4 per boarding train.

It’ll take more than 2 members of staff to cover the size of gateline needed at Euston.

 

[Tetchytyke]

And there is a lot of money saved by only requiring maybe two members of staff on the gateline compared to 2-4 per boarding train.

If you were to gate all of Euston you'd need more than two members of staff on the gateline. The mini gateline at 8-11 has more people than that on it already.

I'm not sure you'd save any money on staffing compared to the existing situation.

 

[aron2smith]

Hasn't the Euston Square lift setup change to now be inside the gateline?

If you mean the Gower Street entrance, the lift puts you next to the barriers, but you still need to tap in at barriers to access the platforms. For some reason, rarely anyone seems to staff it.

2 stations where lifts fully bypass barriers for some reason are Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage. Occasionally staff are by these lifts checking tickets but that seems rare.