New Street ticket gates

[viscountviktor]

Just wanted to note that I walked through Bham New Street last night and the ticket gates were still manned at 22:30 - pretty impressive in my opinion and great to see!

 

[MattSGB]

Just wanted to note that I walked through Bham New Street last night and the ticket gates were still manned at 22:30 - pretty impressive in my opinion and great to see!

Doesn't bother the fair dodgers - they know that they can just head to the unmanned Navigation Street exit at any time of day. It's the same at Snow Hill with the Livery Street exit, and often at Moor Street with the exit on platform 1.
I often need to buy a special ticket (friends and family return) that isn't available at the ticket machines. When my departure ticket office is closed (most of the time), I have to use the excess fares counter at New Street. However, the last few times, the excess fare counter has been unmanned, so the staff at the barriers have had to let me through. They don't have equipment to sell tickets and they didn't want any detail from me other than saying that the excess fares office was closed. How can they have ticket barriers but no capability to sell a ticket on the gated side? The answer must be that the barriers are just for show and that they have no intention of getting revenue from fare dodgers.

 

[viscountviktor]

I disagree, it means a lot of ticket revenue will still be picked up that wouldn't if the main concourse gates were open. Especially with people coming into Bham for a night out.

Why don't they lock the Navigation Street doors when it is unmanned?

I also think Moor Street platform 1 exit needs shutting when the ticket gates are unmanned, but I think it might be a fire exit for Platform 1.

 

[Russel]

Before the rebuild, the lift from the subway under the platforms always used to be a popular exit for fare dodgers as it brought you out by the taxi rank outside the station.

 

[185]

Doesn't bother the fair dodgers - they know that they can just head to the unmanned Navigation Street exit at any time of day.

Not the case. Usually operational & manned every time I see it with two Avanti staff sat facing it in the little booth - even beyond 9pm.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Not the case. Usually operational & manned every time I see it with two Avanti staff sat facing it in the little booth - even beyond 9pm.

Last time I was in the area, a few months back, I was in and out of the Navigation Street exit several times in the evening, and the gates were always in operation, with someone based there.

 

[Milo T.K]

Just wanted to note that I walked through Bham New Street last night and the ticket gates were still manned at 22:30 - pretty impressive in my opinion and great to see!

Most network rail owned and managed stations you see are manned until midnight or in a few cases 24 hour

 

[MattSGB]

Last time I was in the area, a few months back, I was in and out of the Navigation Street exit several times in the evening, and the gates were always in operation, with someone based there.

Hmm. I am not sure how you are "in and out" of a manned exit-only gate line, unless you are staff?

Not the case. Usually operational & manned every time I see it with two Avanti staff sat facing it in the little booth - even beyond 9pm.

I'm not sure what station or exit you are thinking of, but there is no booth. In all the times I have used this exit, the barriers were closed twice with a single staff member lurking nearby.

Perhaps you are both thinking of the Station Street exit, rather that the Navigation Street exit.

 

[dk1]

Spent three days in Birmingham last week and impressed with revenue protection and amount of staff generally around as wasnt always like that years ago. The trams to are very well covered with constant onboard ticket checks.

 

[alex17595]

I was talking to one of the barrier staff for half an hour on my break one day and in that time 10-15 jumped/ pushed through the barrier. All young, mostly men. They could do with a couple of BTP stood just outside the door.

I even managed to sell a few ticket because they didn't have a machine at the time.

 

[Chriso]

I think the Nav and Hill St exits should be peak only and locked at weekends

I have been impressed lately with New St and Chiltern also staffing the platform 1 entry/exit at Moor Street later in the evening

I find the LNW operation at Wolverhampton very haphazard but the same can be said of most of their gatelines tbh

 

[AJDesiro]

I think the Nav and Hill St exits should be peak only and locked at weekends

I have been impressed lately with New St and Chiltern also staffing the platform 1 entry/exit at Moor Street later in the evening

I find the LNW operation at Wolverhampton very haphazard but the same can be said of most of their gatelines tbh

I don't think that's possible. The only reason they were built was due to New St being classed as an underground station, and the need for a fire exit after stricter regulations came into force in the aftermath of the King's Cross fire.

 

[Chriso]

Very interesting point I hadn’t thought of that but makes sense

 

[185]

I'm not sure what station or exit you are thinking of, but there is no booth. In all the times I have used this exit, the barriers were closed twice with a single staff member lurking nearby.

This one, there is a freestanding booth against the back wall, usually with one or two staff sat next to it. Gateline was operational 2047, Saturday.

 

[dk1]

This one, there is a freestanding booth against the back wall, usually with one or two staff sat next to it. Gateline was operational 2047, Saturday.

Was operational and staffed whenever I passed it too.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Hmm. I am not sure how you are "in and out" of a manned exit-only gate line, unless you are staff?

I'm not sure what station or exit you are thinking of, but there is no booth. In all the times I have used this exit, the barriers were closed twice with a single staff member lurking nearby.

Perhaps you are both thinking of the Station Street exit, rather that the Navigation Street exit.

If it's the entrance I'm thinking of, I had no idea it was exit only - I entered or was let in that way as well as leaving that way twice during the evening. And given the abysmal signage in the station (not just the long-running complaints about interchanging there, but the fact that the "geographical" maps in a few places - that I wanted to use to orientate myself - weren't [I'd discovered previously] standardised with north at the top) I needed to leave the station before I lost my sense of direction so that I could find my way to my destination when outside. The entrance/exit I mean is one at the end of an interchange bridge over the platforms, where there's a kink to the left at the end and you find yourself in sight of the outside world. (Not that the outside world at that point was a very wonderful sight...)

 

[viscountviktor]

Most network rail owned and managed stations you see are manned until midnight or in a few cases 24 hour

My experience of New Street on a Sunday evening is that it is unmanned.

Spent three days in Birmingham last week and impressed with revenue protection and amount of staff generally around as wasnt always like that years ago. The trams to are very well covered with constant onboard ticket checks.

Sadly the trams are going to revenue protection only from November so I'm worried fare evasion will skyrocket. I much prefer the conductor model.

I think the Nav and Hill St exits should be peak only and locked at weekends

I have been impressed lately with New St and Chiltern also staffing the platform 1 entry/exit at Moor Street later in the evening

I find the LNW operation at Wolverhampton very haphazard but the same can be said of most of their gatelines tbh

Moor Street platform 1 was open the last time I walked past in peak time.

If they have to have it for fire exit reasons they should just build a fire door there you can only open from inside the station.

 

[dk1]

Sadly the trams are going to revenue protection only from November so I'm worried fare evasion will skyrocket. I much prefer the conductor model.

Oh no way That’s such bad news. I found them fantastic not only for revenue but for piece of mind and ensuring everybody feels confident onboard.

 

[MattSGB]

This one, there is a freestanding booth against the back wall, usually with one or two staff sat next to it. Gateline was operational 2047, Saturday.

This is the Navigation Street exit in the photo. I got the names of the streets wrong earlier. The Hill Street exit is the one that is almost never manned, on the opposite side of the bridge to the Navigation Street exit. The Hill Street exit is the one for near exclusive use by fare dodgers.

 

[Chriso]

Another free tram network for the scum then. Are they going to install ticket machines as that was such a great success on the networks introduction for those of us who remember lol.

To the people who don’t the machines lasted about a week hence the introduction of conductor to modern day

A shame to see another decent network go to ruin like everything in this cesspit of a country

 

[Benjwri]

Most network rail owned and managed stations you see are manned until midnight or in a few cases 24 hour

The stations overall or the ticket barriers themselves? You're correct there will be staff, as I can't think of a Network Rail station with only DOO services, so dispatch staff are required. However the idea barriers are manned till midnight just isn't true. I have definitely seen Paddington gatelines open by 8pm sometimes, and Reading is widely known to have it's gatelines open in the evening (I had an amusing time watching people panic when the barriers were closed later one night for some kind of RPI sting, while waiting for my train that GWR were kind enough to run an hour late)

 

[viscountviktor]

Another free tram network for the scum then. Are they going to install ticket machines as that was such a great success on the networks introduction for those of us who remember lol.

To the people who don’t the machines lasted about a week hence the introduction of conductor to modern day

A shame to see another decent network go to ruin like everything in this cesspit of a country

Yes ticket machines will be installed at every stop.

I guess Transport for West Midlands will feel the revenue hit if getting rid of conductors leads to more evasion (which I think it will). They'll be able to tell pretty quickly if it's worked or not.