First-time user - Ticket gate etiquette at busy termini?

[fandroid]

I've never seen restrictions on entry gates at Waterloo in the evening peak. True that they don't seem to reconfigure them from earlier in the day, but there always a way through, even without sneaking round the back between platform pairs. Waterloo is a busy station, and evening peak very much doesn't mean that it reverts to outward travel only at that time.

For people with any sort of luggage beyond a small rucksack the best way is via the wide gates. A badly positioned bag can easily get trapped as the normal gates close behind the person. A big rucksack on a small person can cause chaos!

 

[Enigma]

The big barrier is more lenient, so if you have any amount of luggage, just use the bigger barrier.

Sometimes, the queue is actually on the bigger barrier instead, in the case where there are many with luggage. Only in that case do I bother with the regular barriers.

At the end of the day you are overthinking it a bit. Also the staff don't care.

 

[dvboy]

Never had a problem using a wide gate. Used one yesterday because two Avanti staff were having a conversation over the narrow gate to the right of it blocking it from use while people were queueing for the rest of them on the other side.

 

[Russel]

Never gave it a second thought!

My main issue with ticket barriers is Network Rail never clean the glass above the E-Ticket scanner, causing no end of issues with actually scanning tickets...

I say Network Rail because this seems to be an issue mostly at Birmingham New Street, my success rate is around 50%, what also doesn't help is the condescending attitude of the Avanti staff manning said barriers, straight out of the Euston charm school...

 

[xotGD]

I noticed at King's Cross last week that above the wide barriers are symbols indicting that these are suitable for wheelchair users, people with bikes, etc. The sign does not say that other people cannot use the wide barriers - they are for general use.

 

[styles]

Next time someone has a go for using the wide gate, just start walking live you've crapped yourself. Added bonus that they probably won't sit near you on the train.

 

[DJ_K666]

When I was at Brighton &Hove buses we had special passes allowing us cheap train travel which were a regular paper ticket with our staff pass as a photocard. After a few months the magnetic strip would stop working. Most if the time the gate staff got yo know us buy occasionally there was a 'fireigner' who didn't. One such exchange at Eastbourne went sling the lines of

Me: shows pass
Him: "You need to put it in the slot"
Me:"It doesn't work through that" (puts it through slot)
Him:" What is it?" (Tries to read the ticket from 15 feet away)
Me: (shows pass from the wide gate) "You can read this from over there? You must have good eyesight"

He grumbled snd reluctantly opened the gate. In passing I said "These magnetic strips are a nightmare. They wear out, don't you know".

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jul 2025 ==

I noticed at King's Cross last week that above the wide barriers are symbols indicting that these are suitable for wheelchair users, people with bikes, etc. The sign does not say that other people cannot use the wide barriers - they are for general use.

If it doesn't say you can't, then you can.