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Exeter St Davids and Plymouth ticket barriers

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Chriso

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The First Great Western website says that work started yesterday at Plymouth on installing automatic ticket barriers and they should be operational by the end of the week. Work on the Exeter St Davids barriers will apparently start next week.
 
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Nat the Ned

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Newton Abbot will not be done as the station is far to open plan. Exeter St.Davids will be followed by Taunton and possibily Exeter Central. Most of the south west will become a 'penalty fare' area from early in 2007 with ticket machines going in at nearly all mainline stations....
 

devon_metro

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Newton Abbot will not be done as the station is far to open plan. Exeter St.Davids will be followed by Taunton and possibily Exeter Central. Most of the south west will become a 'penalty fare' area from early in 2007 with ticket machines going in at nearly all mainline stations....

Woo Hoo we are being Londonised.

They better not do Paignton!
 
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Tom

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"We are pleased to announce that Paignton is now part of the penalty fares system being rolled out across the South West......" ;)
 

devon_metro

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Personally i doubt they will as many people would enter the station via the LC, and they are not exactly going to put barriers on the P&DSR entrance!
 

Jim

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The poroblem with Exeter Central though is the open end exit (St James' Park end) which I can't see getting a machine or barriers
 

Woody

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The First Great Western website says that work started yesterday at Plymouth on installing automatic ticket barriers and they should be operational by the end of the week. Work on the Exeter St Davids barriers will apparently start next week.

The auto barriers at Exeter St Davids are installed but were not operational on Friday 15th Dec,also as its currently possible to avoid the auto gates and reach the platforms via the buffet the buffet will have to be partitioned off as well.
 

Jim

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The auto barriers at Exeter St Davids are installed but were not operational on Friday 15th Dec,also as its currently possible to avoid the auto gates and reach the platforms via the buffet the buffet will have to be partitioned off as well.

I bet they will still have a bloke guarding it though
 

scb201

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Has ne1 got ne pics of St Davids, can't quite see it working. Will have to have a look when I'm next down in the West Country.
 

Mojo

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If it's anything like the Ealing Broadway installation, they'll be in
place for about 4 months, then you'll see posters announcing that they'll be
working at <insert date>, and they'll be in use after an extra 3 weeks. And
then fail again. And then they'll work again, but be unstaffed, and
therefore locked open for the best part of the day.
 

compsci

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There are some going in at City Thameslink at the moment. They look very strange in their white plywood boxes. Given the problems I've had before with tickets issued there it wouldn't surprise me too much if tickets from the ticket office don't open the barriers.

Logic would dictate that Blackfriars is being done at the same time, but given that FCC had a ticket check on platform 4 but not 5 at KX yesterday probably not. Today they managed to make it look like tickets were required to be purchased before getting on to a hull trains service as they'd shut the barriers on that side (or claiming that you would buy one on there would be a very convenient excuse to sneak past them and on to the Cambridge train.).
 

Woody

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Has ne1 got ne pics of St Davids, can't quite see it working. Will have to have a look when I'm next down in the West Country.

Aparently the buffet staff at Exeter St Davids told me that the doors from the buffet to platform 1 are to be permently closed with access remaining to/from the existing ticketing concourse as now.To access the buffet from platform 1 you will have to go back out through the barriers/concourse.
The auto barriers themselves are due to be operational on Wednesday 20th Dec.
 
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I have carefully thought about this issue, and have concluded:

TICKET BARRIERS ARE A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

They cost the TOC's or SOC's (station operating companies) millions of pounds, and the process of construction is timely and causes overcrowding at the station entrance/terminal.

After installation, the majority of the time, especially at Exeter St Davids, they are manned. This is a waste of time, the companies using up even guards and station train dispatchers to forefill this role.

Another thing is, at occasional peak times, Sundays, evenings and early mornings, these arn't manned nor in operation.

Like previous mentions, they are completely unreliable and break every few weeks. Repair is again timely and costly.

One major question is of course why the hell do you have these ticket barriers?

Train guards appear to be present on all journeys around the South West, so is the role of the conductor being changed? Will these workers soon axe walking through the carraiges collecting tickets, or are these barriers absolutely pointless.

Trainspotters must have a hard time accessing the platforms of these busy an enthusiast attractive stations, so what are the enthusiasts to do? - I propose a pass should be valid for the enthusiast to access all public areas of the rail station, and, if trains are to remain manned for the future, they can be issued a simple fine if trying to travel for free.

But, if this movement is acted, it should be free of service. Almost a right. Why should they charge a toll for this privalage? It should just be "Get yours at the ticket office" or "Send off for yours now".
 
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Tom

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Barriers have to be manned for several quite reasonable health & safety laws. They're also easier to avert fare evasion.
 
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Yes, but I don't think the losses in overall fares for FGW compares to the price of manning, installing and maintaining
 

thefab444

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I agree that ticket barriers on NatRail stations are fairly pointless, but its not a right of ours to be able to access the platforms I wouldn't say. Possibly on those owned by Network Rail, but ones operated by TOCs, I dunno.

JS
 
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Your probably right. But yes, those owned by Network Rail, which of course is the railway sector of the government, makes it a public place and therefore public property.
 

scb201

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Does that mean you can wonder into any government office and take photos. That's not me arguing againts people who take pictures, but at the end of the day, you are guests, and it is a privalage that you should be able to use the platforms for that.
 

Mojo

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I can see why TOCs would want to have them, however poor design and installation can cause grief for customers. At Bristol Temple Meads, especially on the 0800 arrival, queues for 1 man on an Avantix can be quite an irritant. However, at other times they are useful for protecting revenue from unstaffed stations.

Many TOCs use ticket office staff or even CCTV operators (*cough* LU *cough*) to "man" barriers, this is an irritant as they're often hard to get in touch with and can't also do much if someone finds a way through.
 
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Does that mean you can wonder into any government office and take photos. That's not me arguing againts people who take pictures, but at the end of the day, you are guests, and it is a privalage that you should be able to use the platforms for that.



Your being stupid now. I don't think a railway station is a considered or grouped by the government or in fact anybody as a place of private confidentiality; because in fact it is not a government office and train enthusiasts (I myself am not one) should have nothing preventing them from having harmless fun. I'm 13 years old, and I'd rather see the CHAVS and townies of my generation watching trains that using heroin ON THE LINES.[/QUOTE]
 

W14Fishbourne

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I have carefully thought about this issue, and have concluded:

TICKET BARRIERS ARE A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

They cost the TOC's or SOC's (station operating companies) millions of pounds, and the process of construction is timely and causes overcrowding at the station entrance/terminal.

Ticket sales have been known to increase by up to 25% when gate lines have been installed at stations, so they are obviously effective. Believe me, they pay for their costs - for installation, for operation, and for staffing - many times over. If they didn't then I can assure you that TOCs wouldn't bother installing them.
 

jd

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Nobody has yet mentioned the effect ticket barriers have on anti-social behaviour. Most chavs don't pay to travel on trains, and (hopefully) won't be able to get at the trains if ticket barriers are installed.
 

me123

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TICKET BARRIERS ARE A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

I beg to differ, like many others I'm afraid.

1) They stop/reduce fare dodging, which is theft, which is illegal, which means you're reducing crime.
2) It prevents ASB.
3) Whilst it can cause a passenger to miss a train, shouldn't they really be more on time for it in the first place?

So for most honest passengers, the barriers shouldn't be too much of a problem providing they have their ticket.
 
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Ticket sales have been known to increase by up to 25% when gate lines have been installed at stations, so they are obviously effective. Believe me, they pay for their costs - for installation, for operation, and for staffing - many times over. If they didn't then I can assure you that TOCs wouldn't bother installing them.

Wow! 25%? Are you sure? I read it was just over 4%! My opinion is changed I beleive.

However, someone said how CHAV's travel for free, well, I think most of the CHAV areas (North London, Greater Manchester, Central Glasgow) don't have ticket barriers. We don't have a major CHAV problem in the south-west---- we even have a SWACA {South West Anti CHAV Alliance).
 

Daniel

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CHAV areas (North London

OI!! :lol:


Well, I think that ticket barriers do help reduce fare dodges, but only if they're used correctly - you can still double back someone, and there needs to be someone supervising it, even if just to make sure no-one jumps over the top! Plus it's incredibly annoying when they leave the child lock on and walk off.
 

me123

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However, someone said how CHAV's travel for free, well, I think most of the CHAV areas (North London, Greater Manchester, Central Glasgow) don't have ticket barriers. We don't have a major CHAV problem in the south-west---- we even have a SWACA {South West Anti CHAV Alliance).

Glasgow have NEDs, not CHAVs. And most NEDs travel from Queen Street. But Central really should have barriers. I'm pretty sure Scotrail want them. But Central usually has human barriers anyway which is always something.
 
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