Automatic Ticket Barriers

[sheff1]

Merseyrail stations in Liverpool have new barriers installed this week which don't accept tickets with Railcard discounts, but when you go over to the manned barrier and explain the staff insist you try your ticket again in front of them, frustrating and I find it insulting to be disbelieved.

I went to exit at Coventry with a ticket from Burton to Bedworth but it rejected. The barrier assistant looked at it and said tickets which did not have Coventry on would reject and then let me through.

Returning around an hour later to continue to Bedworth I obviously knew the ticket wouldn't work so held it out to the assistant and asked to be let through
"you need to put it in the barrier"
"it won't work"
aggressively "put it in the barrier"

Of course the ticket was rejected for the reason I had been given an hour earlier at which point they deigned to actually look at it and claimed it was not valid because the barrier had rejected it, before finally letting me through when I pointed out why it had rejected. Frustrating indeed that such numpties are almost certainly never going to change their ways.

 

[Tester]

I went to exit at Coventry with a ticket from Burton to Bedworth but it rejected. The barrier assistant looked at it and said tickets which did not have Coventry on would reject and then let me through.

Returning around an hour later to continue to Bedworth I obviously knew the ticket wouldn't work so held it out to the assistant and asked to be let through
"you need to put it in the barrier"
"it won't work"
aggressively "put it in the barrier"

Of course the ticket was rejected for the reason I had been given an hour earlier at which point they deigned to actually look at it and claimed it was not valid because the barrier had rejected it, before finally letting me through when I pointed out why it had rejected. Frustrating indeed that such numpties are almost certainly never going to change their ways.

Last month, due to disruption between Birmingham International and New Street, I chose to abandon my journey at Coventry.

As I was on an Advance e-ticket not involving Coventry, I was ready for a robust discussion at the gateline.

The attendant, in a perfectly friendly manner, said, "Try it".

Fortunately I bit my tongue, because it opened!

Explain that

 

[317 forever]

A couple of years ago I bought a TfW/LNWR return from Manchester to London Euston.

My nearest station is Heaton Chapel. I bought a single from Heaton Chapel to Stockport, bought a ticket and caught a train that was due to pull into platform 1 with a view to walking across the island platform 2 and jumping on the 8.39 TfW train there.

However, things didn't quite go according to plan. The train from HTC was diverted to platform 0, so I had to use the gates to get to platform 2. The barrier did not recognise my ticket, the attendant saw it was 8.30am and said I could not use the ticket until 9.44!

I did try saying it's not an Avanti ticket but he just repeated the 9.30 comment having seen "off peak" on my e-ticket.

At that moment I did reluctantly accept and wait. After all, strictly speaking that reduced fare is from Manchester Piccadilly not Stockport, albeit with break of journey allowed. So, as the gates might have "known" I had not touched in at Piccadilly, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Of course, I would have walked to Stockport had I known about the "platform alteration" but never mind.

 

[david l]

At least at Manchester Victoria they've devised a system where most tickets are equally treated. That is to say you spend 5 minutes frantically waiving the QR code at the knee-height scanner, before trying to find a member of the gateline staff to let you through*. It always annoys me when I see the bloke on the Northern TV advert just slide effortlessly through them, it's like how does he manage the impossible....?

(*I must admit however I've just about got the hang of exactly how far from the scanners the phone screen needs to be, though it seems it's not an exact science )

At least after about 3 years the barriers at Manchester Victoria have now been programmed to allow Concessionary Tfgm cards (assuming you've paid the £10 per annum rail travel supplement) - apparently were previously the only barriers in Greater Manchester to refuse.

 

[Jan Mayen]

So far, my All Line Rover has worked two sets of barriers. The station where I bought it and Leeds. I wonder why Leeds accepts it, but nowhere else does.

 

[TUC]

I would not trust staff at Bradford Forster Square to act with integrity since one day when a fault with Trainline's site meant that customers were unable to collect tickets bought from them from TVMs, and the barrier staff's response was to send all of them to the ticket office to buy new tickets.

 

[Taunton]

I understand some of the barrier systems are unable to validate all the combinations that may be valid because the memory unit is not large enough to hold all the combinations.

For being unable to pass through when unattended, certainly at TfL points now this has been caused by technology advance. The instruction is that if unattended the barriers had to be set open. That still applies, but a systems update now records and reports centrally every moment the barriers are switched open or not. So if staff want a quick break they now are told to leave them closed, otherwise the station manager gets it for not having the barriers in operation when they are meant to be.

 

[sheff1]

Last month, due to disruption between Birmingham International and New Street, I chose to abandon my journey at Coventry.

As I was on an Advance e-ticket not involving Coventry, I was ready for a robust discussion at the gateline.

The attendant, in a perfectly friendly manner, said, "Try it".

Fortunately I bit my tongue, because it opened!

Explain that

Perhaps e-tickets behave differently to paper ones and /or they have changed the barrier programming.

 

[Skie]

Merseyrail stations in Liverpool have new barriers installed this week which don't accept tickets with Railcard discounts, but when you go over to the manned barrier and explain the staff insist you try your ticket again in front of them, frustrating and I find it insulting to be disbelieved.

I think this is partially because they’re new and are behaving a bit differently and tap n go is still relatively new too. Plus passengers are used to just showing a ticket and being let through an open barrier when queues build up.

The new gateline also doesn’t retain tickets which is slowing down the flow of regular punters as they’re having to adapt to pulling the ticket back out before the barriers open. And if you follow behind with a Walrus/Metro card and tap too early it blocks the gate for a few seconds.

 

[Sonic1234]

For being unable to pass through when unattended, certainly at TfL points now this has been caused by technology advance. The instruction is that if unattended the barriers had to be set open. That still applies, but a systems update now records and reports centrally every moment the barriers are switched open or not. So if staff want a quick break they now are told to leave them closed, otherwise the station manager gets it for not having the barriers in operation when they are meant to be.

Yes. TfL grades stations based on how long the barriers are closed. They still (should) leave them open if they are unattended, but are less willing to do so. A common fudge is to leave the wide gate open but the others closed which fools the barrier software that they are in use.

If you're trapped inside the barrier, there is an emergency release button. Probably the only way TfL will learn not to leave barriers unattended and closed is if it is used.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Perhaps e-tickets behave differently to paper ones and /or they have changed the barrier programming.

With Cubic gates each type of fulfilment has its own logic so CCST,Barcode and ITSO can all behave differently

 

[MichaelTrains]

I would not trust staff at Bradford Forster Square to act with integrity since one day when a fault with Trainline's site meant that customers were unable to collect tickets bought from them from TVMs, and the barrier staff's response was to send all of them to the ticket office to buy new tickets.

After my facial situation on Friday evening I tend to agree with you.

The staff at Bradford Forster Square are slowly heading up to Blackpool North levels.

Especially when on Friday, they said there were no trains running and had us all waiting the public side of the barriers when a train to our destination left empty with no bugger on it.

 

[scrapy]

Merseyrail stations in Liverpool have new barriers installed this week which don't accept tickets with Railcard discounts, but when you go over to the manned barrier and explain the staff insist you try your ticket again in front of them, frustrating and I find it insulting to be disbelieved.

Its not that you are being disbelieved, they probably want to see which code comes up as to why the ticket was rejected.

 

[WillC]

Why *are* there advance tickets for local journeys? Most people will just rock up and get the next train. The saving over a normal off-peak must be trivial surely? It seems to over-complicate everything. I buy separate tickets if travelling from London to Guiseley (if can find a convenient advance ticket on the London - Leeds part) because any messing with the Guiseley - Leeds part (late arrival etc) incurs the wrath of the ticket inspector as the advance local ticket isn't valid. Ticketing is currently an abject disgrace from a passenger's point of view.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

The saving over a normal off-peak must be trivial surely?

I saved over the cost of the advance using an advance (at the last minute) over a single, but fortunately the TfGM changes will make that issue a thing of the past.

 

[riceuten]

If you buy a ticket with a railcard discount, the gates at Stevenage automatically reject it. The idea being you are supposed to show the gateline staff your railcard, which they are way too busy dealing with fare dodgers to actually police this.