Tape over paper ticket slots at Farringdon

[al78]

I commute to Farringdon twice a week and on both sides of the barriers, some of them have tape stuck over the slot where you insert a paper ticket to open the barrier. Is there a reason people with paper tickets are denied access through some of the barriers? It can be annoying as in the middle of a crowd of people trying to exit at 9am, it is not always possible to see which barriers have the slot blocked until I am very close to them, then I have to do a last-minute switch to an adjacent gate to get out if the one I am in line for is taped.

 

[skyhigh]

Is there a reason people with paper tickets are denied access through some of the barriers?

Because they're broken, presumably.

 

[Flying Snail]

I'd assume the mag stripe readers are broken on those gates but the contactless pads are functional.

Try regularly using tickets that never work barriers, constantly having to find, get the attention of and converse with gatelne staff gets old very quickly.

 

[irp]

Failed reader perhaps ? While the barcode scanner works ? Just a guess

 

[Mojo]

Failed reader perhaps ? While the barcode scanner works ? Just a guess

Farringdon is a London Underground station so doesn’t have barcode readers stuck to the gates.

 

[Vexed]

At least they bother to tape them up. Some LU stations don't seem to in my experience so it's guesswork - you can stick the ticket in but there's an internal shutter that gives the ticket a nice fold if you were pushing too hard.

The strategy with them is too look at the length of the text displayed on the barrier (same one that says Seek Assistance) and see if it says CARDS / TICKETS or the shorter CARDS ONLY. You can't actually read it from further out but guesswork from the length works okay for me, though I do have young eyes!

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

The magstripe readers are the most unreliable part of Cubic gates, and probably the item that gets replaced / serviced the most. Not surprising really given the state of some of the tickets that go into it. It's also relatively fragile.

They're also expensive, and in short supply - especially now e-tickets / smartcards / EMV increasingly dominate. I suspect they're no longer being manufactured and they're robbing spares from elsewhere.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

At least one gate at Marylebone NR yesterday was failing to read mag-stripe tickets (causing a bit of a pileup), and there's been a gate at Baker St that almost always fails to read magstripes and has been like that for months.
It does feel like a bit of a 'can't be bothered' attitude, or at least, parts not available to make the repair.
At least with taping the slot up, you know you need to use a different gate, rather than trying your ticket and having to join another queue when it fails.

 

[al78]

Thanks, a simple explanation as usual, never thought of the possibility they were not working. I've never seen it at other stations so thought it was something specific to Farringdon.

 

[DelW]

Making cross-London transfers, I've noticed an increasing frequency of gates refusing cardboard tickets, with an internal shutter apparently blocking them being inserted. I haven't seen any taped up, so I've had to try random alternatives until one works. It's particularly annoying since I'm using CCST tickets specifically because TfL won't accept bar codes.

The strategy with them is too look at the length of the text displayed on the barrier (same one that says Seek Assistance) and see if it says CARDS / TICKETS or the shorter CARDS ONLY. You can't actually read it from further out but guesswork from the length works okay for me, though I do have young eyes!

That's a handy tip which I shall try to remember!

 

[Russel]

I'd assume most LU journeys are now done by contactless or Oyster, so I doubt there is any urgency within TFL to repair when broke...

 

[Vexed]

I'd assume most LU journeys are now done by contactless or Oyster, so I doubt there is any urgency within TFL to repair when broke...

Exactly. I've been to smaller LU gatelines with half a dozen gates where none took paper tickets in one direction. The only paper tickets they see frequently are travelcards and I would assume that people are increasingly using eTickets to London Terminals, then contactless which can be cheaper as well. I will always use a smartcard now if I need a Travelcard.

 

[Russel]

Exactly. I've been to smaller LU gatelines with half a dozen gates where none took paper tickets in one direction. The only paper tickets they see frequently are travelcards and I would assume that people are increasingly using eTickets to London Terminals, then contactless which can be cheaper as well. I will always use a smartcard now if I need a Travelcard.

I used to buy travelcards whenever I visited London, but since the introduction of contactless I haven't really bothered with them.

I did get a travelcard before Christmas as I also wanted the UberBoats travelcard discount, which actually worked out in my favour as the WCML fell apart so I got 100% delay repay which also meant all of my TFL journeys became free!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

One or two have been taped up at Charing Cross from time to time

 

[davews]

Exactly. I've been to smaller LU gatelines with half a dozen gates where none took paper tickets in one direction. The only paper tickets they see frequently are travelcards and I would assume that people are increasingly using eTickets to London Terminals, then contactless which can be cheaper as well. I will always use a smartcard now if I need a Travelcard.

If you have a railcard and are making some long distance journeys on the tube, eg out to zone 6, a travel card remains much cheaper than contactless with caps.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

If you have a railcard and are making some long distance journeys on the tube, eg out to zone 6, a travel card remains much cheaper than contactless with caps.

The psychology of passengers doesn't mean that price is always the most important factor. Plenty of non-rail friends and family happily tap in and tap out with their debit/credit cards, knowing that they could get a discounted Travelcard and save.

This forum in particular often overlooks the attractiveness and importance of convenience. Psychologically it has a completely different response too - in most people, tapping a card in/out is almost a novelty effect, something people like to do and repeat. It's got a reputation of working well and is trustworthy.

Queuing up at a self service machine or ticket office, even if you get the correct ticket, handing over the money in one transaction, feeling a bit suspicious if you've been given the correct ticket, then worrying about whether it will work the barriers etc - it's easy to see why people just tap. I suspect there's other psychological factors, e.g. most people who think they'd lose a train ticket would probably think they wouldn't lose their payment card or mobile device etc, so elements of subconscious risk mitigation.

 

[181]

The psychology of passengers doesn't mean that price is always the most important factor. Plenty of non-rail friends and family happily tap in and tap out with their debit/credit cards, knowing that they could get a discounted Travelcard and save.

This forum in particular often overlooks the attractiveness and importance of convenience. Psychologically it has a completely different response too - in most people, tapping a card in/out is almost a novelty effect, something people like to do and repeat. It's got a reputation of working well and is trustworthy.

Queuing up at a self service machine or ticket office, even if you get the correct ticket, handing over the money in one transaction, feeling a bit suspicious if you've been given the correct ticket, then worrying about whether it will work the barriers etc - it's easy to see why people just tap. I suspect there's other psychological factors, e.g. most people who think they'd lose a train ticket would probably think they wouldn't lose their payment card or mobile device etc, so elements of subconscious risk mitigation.

It works both ways -- if I go to London, even if I'm not travelling around enough for a travelcard to be chaper than a London Terminals ticket + PAYG, I sometimes feel that it's worth it for the convenience and confidence of being able to travel freely without having to worry about being overcharged, which I understand can happen as a result of something as simple as changing your mind after passing through a barrier.

 

[DelW]

It works both ways -- if I go to London, even if I'm not travelling around enough for a travelcard to be chaper than a London Terminals ticket + PAYG, I sometimes feel that it's worth it for the convenience and confidence of being able to travel freely without having to worry about being overcharged, which I understand can happen as a result of something as simple as changing your mind after passing through a barrier.

A Travelcard on CCST also doesn't time-out, which is a benefit if you're making something other than simple point to point journeys, such as if exploring outer lines (admittedly a niche occupation).

From home counties stations, I think that an outboundary Travelcard with a railcard is often cheaper than a discounted London Terminals ticket plus full price contactless with capping.

 

[jon81uk]

The psychology of passengers doesn't mean that price is always the most important factor. Plenty of non-rail friends and family happily tap in and tap out with their debit/credit cards, knowing that they could get a discounted Travelcard and save.

This forum in particular often overlooks the attractiveness and importance of convenience. Psychologically it has a completely different response too - in most people, tapping a card in/out is almost a novelty effect, something people like to do and repeat. It's got a reputation of working well and is trustworthy.

Also there is the £30 upfront cost of a railcard. Unless you are certain you'll do £90 of off-peak travel many people don't want to take the risk of losing the £30.

 

[sk688]

watford juntion has a number of slots taped over recently as well

 

[Sonic1234]

Queuing up at a self service machine or ticket office, even if you get the correct ticket, handing over the money in one transaction, feeling a bit suspicious if you've been given the correct ticket, then worrying about whether it will work the barriers etc - it's easy to see why people just tap.

This makes people very aware of the cost of their journey - which leads to people questioning if they're getting value and the whole "trains are expensive" image.

Contactless separates travelling and paying for travel, it's more like a car journey (not quite as hard to calculate the cost as a car though). You tap the magic card, off you go and you get an aggregated charge on a bank statement that's probably never read. Most won't know or question the cost, and it will be a small minority who set off on a contactless journey thinking "this will cost me £x".

I've always thought this is the motivation behind Oval, after all buying a ticket is hardly a huge inconvenience.

 

[181]

It works both ways -- if I go to London, even if I'm not travelling around enough for a travelcard to be chaper than a London Terminals ticket + PAYG, I sometimes feel that it's worth it for the convenience and confidence of being able to travel freely without having to worry about being overcharged, which I understand can happen as a result of something as simple as changing your mind after passing through a barrier.

A Travelcard on CCST also doesn't time-out, which is a benefit if you're making something other than simple point to point journeys, such as if exploring outer lines (admittedly a niche occupation).

From home counties stations, I think that an outboundary Travelcard with a railcard is often cheaper than a discounted London Terminals ticket plus full price contactless with capping.

While it's probably best to respond to problems more calmly than the OP of the thread I'm about to link to may have done, this post illustrates the kind of complication that can be avoided by using a Travelcard.

 

[Recessio]

The magstripe readers are the most unreliable part of Cubic gates, and probably the item that gets replaced / serviced the most. Not surprising really given the state of some of the tickets that go into it. It's also relatively fragile.

They're also expensive, and in short supply - especially now e-tickets / smartcards / EMV increasingly dominate. I suspect they're no longer being manufactured and they're robbing spares from elsewhere.

Most of the LU Westinghouse gates are looking absolutely knackered now (I remember seeing some that appear to only be held together with the black & yellow tape!) and plenty don't seem to read paper tickets correctly either. I'm guessing maybe like Cubic, the parts also aren't manufactured anymore?

At least one gate at Marylebone NR yesterday was failing to read mag-stripe tickets (causing a bit of a pileup), and there's been a gate at Baker St that almost always fails to read magstripes and has been like that for months.
It does feel like a bit of a 'can't be bothered' attitude, or at least, parts not available to make the repair.
At least with taping the slot up, you know you need to use a different gate, rather than trying your ticket and having to join another queue when it fails.

I wonder if it's one of those things that people grumble about, but no one actually bothers to report it to staff? (Although I also don't doubt some of the staff wouldn't bother acting on a reported broken gate anyway)

 

[Travelmonkey]

With the fact my railcard is on my oyster I just use that for any tfl trips. I know TFL don't like outsiders as I've had instances with my ENCT pass where drivers don't understand they don't scan,

 

[Snow1964]

Taping slots has only been done for few years, what they did for many years is stick one of those yellow poles for tensa-tape walking lanes in front of the gate if reader had failed.

Of course adding a second type of reader (or 3 if barcode reader also exists) means some gates are not out of service so no longer blocked, but restricted to ticket types.

What is really frustrating is when they have the overhead arrows indicating lane open, but don't also tape up a no paper tickets message below the arrow.

 

[Class800]

Broken gates are common. Seen this commonly with paper slots on LU and even Elizabeth stations, on the other hand I arrived at Gillingham (Kent) - I know, I had a sports match - and all the e-ticket scanners were out of use and I had to be let through manually (no problem) as didn't have a paper ticket