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Big Stations with no Ticket Barriers

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mralexn

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So basically, Name a Medium / Large station that sees a lot of passenger use that doesn't have ticket barriers,
Then, Explain why that station does not have ticket barriers,

I do not have any explanations but a few stations that spring to mind are
Sheffield
York
Taunton (busy commuter station)
Perth

Also, why are people so against ticket barriers? If i remember in York there was a huge uproar about even the thought of putting one in.
I think personally, A "24 Hour" Free platform ticket should be available upon request from the ticket office, it should say the Station name, so, YORK (for example) and the date.
Anyone else got any other ideas around this area? Because thats all i got :D
 
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Eagle

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Coventry must have actually had its barriers removed at some point—it's quite obvious that the layout of the station was designed with barriers in mind; everyone has to pass through a 10-metre wide gate to get between the concourse and the platforms. I know BR went through a phase in the late 1980s of removing barriers, the so-called "open stations" policy, and Coventry was last remodelled in the 1960s.


As for large stations with no barriers, Edinburgh Waverley has to be one of the largest. It's unbarriered to the point where you can drive your car literally three metres in front of the cab of a 380 stood in platform 4 to get to the internal car park. (This situation, as you might guess, stems from the station's Motorail heritage.)
 

Butts

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Not all platforms at Edinburgh Waverley are covered by Ticket Barriers , don't know if this will be the case when the current refurbishment is completed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Coventry must have actually had its barriers removed at some point—it's quite obvious that the layout of the station was designed with barriers in mind; everyone has to travel through a 15-metre wide gate to get between the concourse and the platforms. I know BR went through a phase in the late 1980s of removing barriers, the so-called "open stations" policy, and Coventry was last remodelled in the 1960s.

Wasn't this due to the argument between Virgin and the "local operator" with regard to revenue allocation ?
 

Eagle

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Not all platforms at Edinburgh Waverley are covered by Ticket Barriers , don't know if this will be the case when the current refurbishment is completed.

I don't think all the platforms can be barriered (although the internal car park's days are numbered) being as the concourse is surrounded on all four sides by platforms, and that's a hell of a lot of gatelines.
 

IanXC

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Coventry must have actually had its barriers removed at some point—it's quite obvious that the layout of the station was designed with barriers in mind; everyone has to pass through a 10-metre wide gate to get between the concourse and the platforms. I know BR went through a phase in the late 1980s of removing barriers, the so-called "open stations" policy, and Coventry was last remodelled in the 1960s.

Same situation in Hull - except the gap is even smaller - 2 gates in a fence!!
 

AlterEgo

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Euston only has ticket gates on the suburban platforms. 8-11 I think. All other platforms are open with crowd gates.
 

AndyLandy

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London Euston*, Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly are all free of ticket gates. Sometimes you will find RPIs doing ticket inspections in place of barriers, but more often than not, you're free to wander on and off the platforms.

*Euston has some platforms gated, but I believe they're the commuter ones only. VWC services leave from un-gated platforms.

As for why I loathe and despite ticket barriers:
1. I think station platforms should be open to the public, mostly so I can go and take photos.
2. I resent having my used ticket taken off me! I've got a nice stack of rail travel tickets now and I'm rather fond of it. I'd like to be able to continue adding to it.

Perhaps not the greatest of reasons, but that's why I object to the wretched things!
 

Bonemaster

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Wasn't this due to the argument between Virgin and the "local operator" with regard to revenue allocation ?

I heard it was due to dangerous congestion, because of the passenger flow and the backup of passengers at peak times towards the running lines trying to get out
 

AlexS

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Coventry had barriers installed but then removed by Virgin Trains I believe as no one else was willing to pay towards them.

Wolverhampton had ticket inspectors housed in standard plastic orange boxes at the entrance to the platforms well into the 90s.
 

Bellwater

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Doncaster, last place I remember having Platform Tickets.

Peterborough
Crewe
Man Picc
 
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tbtc

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So basically, Name a Medium / Large station that sees a lot of passenger use that doesn't have ticket barriers,
Then, Explain why that station does not have ticket barriers

Interesting idea for a thread


I'd suggest that this is because of the low numbers of trains stopping there

  • Hourly to Aberdeen
  • Hourly to Glasgow (with some extras)
  • Hourly to Edinburgh (a fairly recent service, used to be just bi-hourly)
  • Bi-hourly to Inverness

...so, whilst Perth is a physically "large" station, there's not a huge number of trains using it (lots of two platform stations have significantly more departures in an hour). Just a thought.
 

MarkyMarkD

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Waterloo East perversely has no barriers at all if you exit via Waterloo itself, but DOES have barriers if you exit directly onto the street. Bizarre.

If they had installed the barriers just a few feet away from where they are, they would have covered both routes.
 

Urban Gateline

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Southampton Airport Parkway, which has 1.5m passengers annually, quite a few trains per hour running through it, and no barriers. I believe the passenger numbers would rise quite a bit if barriers were put in, however where to put them might be the issue as the station has a strange (open) layout!

Earlsfield, with around 5m passengers using it annually, is currently unbarriered due to refurbishment work, the barriers should come back though when the work is finished!

Wokingham, with over 2m annual passenger usage, this station really should be barriered as it's a busy SWT station also used by FGW services, both of which operated PF schemes, but I'm not sure where the barriers would go!
 

AndyLandy

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Southampton Airport Parkway, which has 1.5m passengers annually, quite a few trains per hour running through it, and no barriers. I believe the passenger numbers would rise quite a bit if barriers were put in, however where to put them might be the issue as the station has a strange (open) layout!

Why would barriers increase passenger numbers? I don't see the logic there?

Putting barriers at SOA would be tricky indeed. As you say, it's a very open station. It would also be quite an inconvenience, since the bridge there is the only way over the lines that's anywhere near to the airport. If you arrive by bus on the Up side of the station, you'd need a way to get over the railway to reach the airport terminal building.

Also, in summary to a lot of people's posts above, the bulk of WCML stations are barrierless. I guess Virgin just don't go in for that sort of thing?
 
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IanXC

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Why would barriers increase passenger numbers? I don't see the logic there?

I think its a Sir Humphrey style increase of the figures, rather than the actual physical number of passengers.
 

Urban Gateline

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I think its a Sir Humphrey style increase of the figures, rather than the actual physical number of passengers.

Yes, in theory it should increase passenger numbers for two reasons:

1) More people are likely to buy a ticket if they know there are barriers at their destination.

2) Those that arrive at a newly barriered station without a valid ticket will have to purchase one, hence adding to passenger numbers, or face a PF (if appropriate).
 

90019

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I don't think all the platforms can be barriered (although the internal car park's days are numbered) being as the concourse is surrounded on all four sides by platforms, and that's a hell of a lot of gatelines.

Currently the only gated platforms are 12-18.
1-4, 7-11 and 19 and 20 have no gates, though manual checks seem to be fairly regular on 1, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 20.

To fully barrier the whole station would be near impossible, particularly platforms 2, 7, 11 and 20.
 

WestCoast

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Liverpool Lime Street has no automated barriers in the overground part of the station covering all but Merseyrail services. Manual barriers are in operation on the platforms most regularly used by Northern and EMT services.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
London Euston*, Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly are all free of ticket gates. Sometimes you will find RPIs doing ticket inspections in place of barriers, but more often than not, you're free to wander on and off the platforms.

Birmingham New Street has a semi-permanent daytime barriers of London Midland RPIs and Manchester Piccadilly also has the same covering the busy "through" platforms 13-14, this time staffed by Northern (G4S contractors).

Actually, I can't think of one station operated by Virgin Trains that has automated barriers. That includes the likes of Carlisle, Preston, Birmingham International, Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, Stockport e.t.c.
 
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Bakerbloke

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Sheffield does not have barriers because of local residents needing to cross the railway via the station. I know there has been loads of opposition in the past when EMT proposed barriers.

I know from first hand experience that ticket barriers at smaller stations like Cambridge create all types of problems when there is a clash between people wanting to enter the platforms at the same time as an express unloads. And the queues for the ticket machines cross the path of these barriers - madness.
 

34D

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Sheffield does not have barriers because of local residents needing to cross the railway via the station. I know there has been loads of opposition in the past when EMT proposed barriers.

Similar reasons apply at York I believe
 

exile

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Liverpool Lime St has ticket barriers of a sort ie a booth past which you have to walk to get to the platform - but only for platforms 1 to 6. Also, modern ticket gates to get to the underground platforms (but these can be bypassed if you use the lift). Platform 7 (used by Virgin trains) has a manual gate staffed when the train is made ready for boarding.

Manchester Piccadilly has no barriers, relying on RPIs to check tickets. Manchester Victoria has barriers, but not covering all platforms. Manchester Oxford Road has ticket gates, but not in use full-time.
 

Lampshade

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Coventry must have actually had its barriers removed at some point—it's quite obvious that the layout of the station was designed with barriers in mind; everyone has to pass through a 10-metre wide gate to get between the concourse and the platforms. I know BR went through a phase in the late 1980s of removing barriers, the so-called "open stations" policy, and Coventry was last remodelled in the 1960s.

Coventry had its barriers removed because Virgin found out they were protecting Central Trains' revenue more than their own, and so demanded Central contribute to running them; Central and WMPTE were very anti-barrier and so rightly told Virgin where to stick it.
 

scottie

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Glasgow Central didn't have barriers apart from ticket checks at peak time when i went in august. Hope they still haven't cos i need to go again to see rest of the 380s!
 

PaxVobiscum

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Glasgow Central didn't have barriers apart from ticket checks at peak time when i went in august. Hope they still haven't cos i need to go again to see rest of the 380s!

http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2012/02/27-glasgow-ring-of-steel-complete.html

THE FINAL batch of automatic ticket gates at Glasgow Central High Level have come into use, completing what ScotRail has described as a ‘ring of steel’ at stations in and around the city centre. Gates are already in use at Anderston, Charing Cross, Argyle Street and Glasgow Central Low Level. ScotRail said it was committed to reducing fraudulent travel as well as improving station security.
 
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