‘Reject passback’

[johntea]

Why is ‘reject passback’ still an issue at ticket barriers in particular Leeds?

I can exit the barriers on a morning, go for a coffee at McDonalds, go back to the barriers and straight away know I have to seek out a gateline attendant to let me through as I know that message is waiting otherwise. Not ideal with a tight connection that isn’t quite tight enough to stop you nipping out for a coffee or to Sainsbury’s etc!

Recently I actually asked a member of staff who mentioned it lasted 15 minutes, which seems far too harsh considering anyone wanting to try dodging the barriers using such a method could just do the same as me and get through no questions asked by seeking out a member of staff! 5 minutes seems more than enough.

I have a MetroCard 1-6, so you would need both that ticket and my photo card for it to be valid anyway. When I used to have a MCard the barriers actually seemed programmed to ‘check out’ and then ‘check in’ again which was much better.

 

[ASharpe]

When I used to commute much further it really annoyed me when even after getting breakfast on the concourse enough time still hadn't passed for it to let me back though. And several times there was nobody on the barrier to let me though.

Now I have an MCard I can go back and forth as much as I please. I might try it to see if it lets me go in and then in again without going out first.

And is it just me who gets annoyed by the number of wide gates and the fact that the ticket checkers like to use them to let people though and make me queue with my bike?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

London Blackfriars has a particularly long passback time; if you are changing from an up to a down Thameslink service you'll get a passback on the opposite side...

 

[Spartacus]

It must be more that 15 minutes at Leeds, I've been for a pint down in The Hop before and it's still rejected it coming back up.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I'm surprised the businesses on the concourse aren't putting pressure on to have this rather pointless "reject passback" period scrapped altogether. Surely much of their custom will come from people changing trains who have, say, 20 minutes to kill? If, as the OP states, you risk missing your connection due to the time it takes to find a gate assistant and distract them from chatting with their mates, you're going to simply not bother going for a coffee (or whatever) and the concourse businesses will lose custom.

 

[xotGD]

It must be more that 15 minutes at Leeds, I've been for a pint down in The Hop before and it's still rejected it coming back up.

From my experience it seems to be a shorter period at the barriers at the southern entrance at Leeds than at the main gate line. Yet you've had the opposite!

Someone needs to do a test: Leave via the southern entrance, leg it round and reenter through the main gate line and see if they get a Reject Passback. I'm not volunteering, by the way!

 

[Dr Hoo]

London Blackfriars has a particularly long passback time; if you are changing from an up to a down Thameslink service you'll get a passback on the opposite side...

I appreciate that at the north end of Blackfriars an interchange requires passing through two barrier lines but the southern 'subway' is within the single barrier line at that end.

There seems to be a growing number of stations where there is a mixture of two-barrier and no-barrier interchange routes. E.g Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[sheff1]

The silliest thing at Leeds is that it does not actually reject "passback" at all, only rejecting a continuation of your ticketed journey.

As you say, if you go out and then back in the ticket is rejected by the barriers, but if (as has happened to me) you suddenly remember something else you wanted on the concourse and exit again the barriers allow you out in the same direction as the ticket was used 10 minutes earlier. So, if you were looking to defraud the railway you could go out, walk round to the gate on the approach road and pass the ticket through to your friend who had not paid and they can then exit via the barriers unimpeded.

No doubt it all makes sense to someone.

 

[rich r]

Someone needs to do a test: Leave via the southern entrance, leg it round and reenter through the main gate line and see if they get a Reject Passback. I'm not volunteering, by the way!

Once I came in on Platform 15 and went out through the southern entrance barriers, then on the escalator down realised I needed to post a letter, so should have come out via the main barriers. So I went out the exit into the Dark Arches, along to Neville Street and back up the steps by the Shabab and into the main entrance and concourse. Took under 5 minutes so you could probably still amble round rather than having to run

 

[johntea]

STILL the same at Leeds even with the new barriers, this morning I exited the barriers and returned exactly 10 minutes later to be rejected...

It can also be very difficult to find a free member of staff at peak times to then let you back through!

 

[plugwash]

There seems to be a growing number of stations where there is a mixture of two-barrier and no-barrier interchange routes. E.g Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly.

Man Pic doesn't have any interchange routes that go through two automatic barriers though. Going from low to high numbers at the main concourse end normally means going through one automatic and one manual barrier. At the overbridge end there are typically no barriers at all.

 

[SteveM70]

The silliest thing at Leeds is that it does not actually reject "passback" at all, only rejecting a continuation of your ticketed journey.

As you say, if you go out and then back in the ticket is rejected by the barriers, but if (as has happened to me) you suddenly remember something else you wanted on the concourse and exit again the barriers allow you out in the same direction as the ticket was used 10 minutes earlier. So, if you were looking to defraud the railway you could go out, walk round to the gate on the approach road and pass the ticket through to your friend who had not paid and they can then exit via the barriers unimpeded.

No doubt it all makes sense to someone.

Yes, this is something that’s bugged me for years - was does this get described as “passback” and why is it a problem?