Ticket Barriers, Folding Bikes, and Barrier Staff

[PTF62]

My home station is one of FCC's stations that they have installed barriers, which given their DOO trains and lack of ticket inspectors is a good idea.

Except when you are travelling on a peak time commuter train, you have planned ahead and are at the front of the massed ranks of grumpy commuters charging towards the exit, and you are carrying a Brompton.

Now if you are approaching the wide gate with 11kg of lumpy metal in one hand, a bag over your shoulder, and your season ticket and photocard out for inspection, there are two options open for the gate staff. They can either

a). inspect my season ticket and photocard and I am through the gate (always with a quick "thanks"); or

b). insist that I put my ticket through the gate. This means putting the bike down (and making sure it won't fall over), take the card out of the holder, put it through the gate, put it back in the holder, put it back in my pocket, pick the bike back up (carefully so as not to hit anyone or anything), and then go through the gate. Or not, as by now the gate is closing and they now need to et their key out and reopen it.

I really don't mind whether they choose a) or b). I could understand if a) was forbidden, that the gate staff would always do b), but more than 3/4's of the staff always take that option.

Or if the gate staff who did b) had never seen someone carrying a folding bike before. But no, they will be on shift for a week, and we will go through the same routine every day.

As I say, I don't mind which they choose, but when the gate staff choose b), from the mutterings of the ruddy great queue of people that build up behind me (there seem to be an awful lot of people who need to use the manned gate to flash some kind of pass), it seems that they would clearly prefer that the gate staff had chosen the other option.

 

[yorkie]

This is why I am opposed to barriers (at least for InterCity/rural stations, I guess they are sadly inevitable on the tube and suburban operations). It's not just the barriers themselves but the fact that some of the staff who operate them are grumpy, badly trained numpties who think valid tickets are invalid yet accept some invalid tickets and don't know the meaning of the term "customer". I of course understand that not all barrier staff are like this, indeed it is the minority, but even if just a few are, then passengers will certainly remember the occasions when such undesirables are encountered.

 

[142094]

The same situation happens at Leeds - and is made worse by the fact that some MetroCards cannot open the barrier. Most of the barrier staff keep one gate open using their card, but I was told they were not to do this as it means the gates record only one person going through and not 'x' amount that actually have.

 

[Helvellyn]

The purpose of barriers is that all tickets that can operate the gates should be put through them. Could you not get the Season ticket out in advance, so that you can put it through the gate? Wide gates are provided to let people with bulky items do that. It's no excuse for poor service though from anyone on those gates.

As to why should the ticket have to be put through, I was told of an example where a Season ticket holder was showing his ticket at the gate day-in, day-out for several months. One day a different staff member was there and asked the ticket to be put through. This was done and the gate didn't open. The ticket was examined and then seen to be a forgery! Now I know the vast majority of Season Ticket holders have a genuine ticket, but that's one reasons TOCs like barriers given the advances in home computer scanning, image editing and printing these days!

 

[EM2]

Many of the Brompton owners I see roll their bike along using the little wheels on the top of the rear mudgard when it is folded. If you have one hand pushing the bike and your bag over your shoulder, then you have one hand free to put your ticket through the gate.

 

[route:oxford]

Now I know the vast majority of Season Ticket holders have a genuine ticket, but that's one reasons TOCs like barriers given the advances in home computer scanning, image editing and printing these days!

Are the railways really that careful with blank tickets in the first place? The blank stock never seems to be overly auditable and it's not as if it's hard to choose a font. Even the mag-strip wouldn't be hard to organise as I'm sure it'll conform to a published ISO standard.

 

[PTF62]

Many of the Brompton owners I see roll their bike along using the little wheels on the top of the rear mudgard when it is folded. If you have one hand pushing the bike and your bag over your shoulder, then you have one hand free to put your ticket through the gate.

The train arrives on an island platform, so I need to carry the bike up a flight of steps, over the bridge, and down another flight of steps. To push a Brompton you need to have it partially unfolded (either seat or handlebars), and carrying it in that form up and down the steps would get me more evil stares from the massed hordes than I do now, carrying it fully folded.

Could you not get the Season ticket out in advance, so that you can put it through the gate?

I would if the railway company would be happy to replace it if I accidentally dropped it whilst climbing up and down the slippery steel steps on the bridge to the ticket barriers, with a Brompton in one hand, and a bag in the other.

Since they won't and I would have to cough up thousands if it was lost, I keep it in its protective wallet, until I reach the barrier.

As to why should the ticket have to be put through, I was told of an example where ...the gate didn't open. The ticket was examined and then seen to be a forgery!

Fair point. But proving that my season ticket with an expiry date of next year is valid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday?

This is a small country station, where day in, day out, you see the same faces on the ticket barriers, and the same faces getting off the same trains, and going through the barriers in pretty much the same order. And a bloke carrying a Brompton with a seething crowd behind, is likely to be quite memorable.

As I said before, the majority of the staff seem to take a common-sense approach, and the people who are most upset are those behind who need to flash some kind of pass to get out.

 

[cuccir]

In theory I think ticket barriers are a nice idea, but what this example shows is that they don't (yet?) have adequate flexibility; the advantage of no barriers or staff-controlled platform access is this ability to make quicker decisions when issues arise

 

[jon0844]

At Hatfield, people come through with folded Brompton's all the time and are let through the wide gate by a member of staff without any fuss.

I have also seen many people carrying their bike and being able to use the gate just fine. If I am in a rush and carrying bags, I'll often take the ticket out of my holder in advance. I can then stop and put it back in my holder after I've left the station, or got onto the platform.

 

[royaloak]

When riding the bike what do you do with the bag?, maybe you need to get a small rucksack that way it will be on your back, one hand on the bike and the other with the ticket!

 

[PTF62]

At Hatfield, people come through with folded Brompton's all the time and are let through the wide gate by a member of staff without any fuss.

As do 3/4's of the staff at my station. But it is the minority who insist that the ticket goes through the barrier.

If I am in a rush and carrying bags, I'll often take the ticket out of my holder in advance. I can then stop and put it back in my holder after I've left the station, or got onto the platform.

When riding the bike what do you do with the bag?, maybe you need to get a small rucksack that way it will be on your back, one hand on the bike and the other with the ticket!

It is a purpose designed Brompton bag that clips onto the front of the bike (easier to carry and keeps more of my florescent jacket visible), and I do use the shoulder strap to carry it when carrying the bike.

The problem is, at my home station they have squeezed a set of barriers right at the bottom of a flight of outdoor steel stairs. When I am 'bikeless' and carrying a normal bag, I will have the ticket out and ready to insert into the barrier.

But when I am carrying 11kg of angular metal in one hand, I prefer to have the other hand on the handrail (especially when the stairs are wet), as as slipping and dropping the bike doesn't seem a good idea for me or anyone else. So once you reach the bottom, straight away you are at the barrier, and stopping there to get a ticket out of the holder causes just as much chaos as two paces further on at the barrier.

Anyway, sensible staff tonight, who just inspected the card and waved me through.

 

[mrcheek]

I was annoyed at Paddington yesterday when people with normal tickets wouldnt use the gates properly, and formed a huge queue in front of the sole gate attendant, blocking me with my ALR! The gate attendant did his best though, painstakingly taking each ticket, and inserting it into the barrier to show the idiots how it was supposed to work!

 

[sheff1]

I was annoyed at Paddington yesterday when people with normal tickets wouldnt use the gates properly, and formed a huge queue in front of the sole gate attendant, blocking me with my ALR! The gate attendant did his best though, painstakingly taking each ticket, and inserting it into the barrier to show the idiots how it was supposed to work!

Not necessarily idiots . I have had valid tickets rejected (or retained when the journey isn't complete) so many times by incorrectly programmed barriers at various stations that now I often queue as well. Usually the attendant waves me through but occasionally they insist on putting the ticket through - sometimes the gate opens, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[royaloak]

It is a purpose designed Brompton bag that clips onto the front of the bike (easier to carry and keeps more of my florescent jacket visible), and I do use the shoulder strap to carry it when carrying the bike. .

Seems fair to me!

The problem is, at my home station they have squeezed a set of barriers right at the bottom of a flight of outdoor steel stairs. When I am 'bikeless' and carrying a normal bag, I will have the ticket out and ready to insert into the barrier.

Ah now that makes more sense, in your original post you didnt mention the stairs or lack of concourse, now I have some sympathy for you