Ticket gates at Huddersfield station to be updgraded for MCard

[johntea]

https://www.wymetro.com/news/Huddersfield_MCard/

Hudderfsield StationRail passengers at Huddersfield Station will be able to use their MCards to touch in at ticket gates thanks to £153,000 of Department for Transport funding.

After Bradford Interchange and Leeds, Huddersfield will become the third major West Yorkshire station to have gates that can read smartcards, which are already being used by over ½ million people for train and bus travel in West Yorkshire.

Welcoming the announcement earlier this month, Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee Chair Councillor James Lewis said, “This funding will help to ensure that the almost two-and-a-half million passengers who use Huddersfield Station every year will be able to do so using MCard smartcards to get through the ticket gates....

Good news I suppose, but...£153,000?!?!?! Does that mean money for other projects too as if that is just to basically fit some MiFare readers to some ticket gates (Which arguably should have been fitted initially!) then presumably link them up to a network and configure them then that is astonishing!

For a comparison I work in technical support at a college and we had some card readers fitted to our photocopiers so the staff can use their MiFare ID cards to authenticate to the print / copy server which logs and accounts for their jobs. They cost under £1,500 a piece

 

[rebmcr]

For a comparison I work in technical support at a college and we had some card readers fitted to our photocopiers so the staff can use their MiFare ID cards to authenticate to the print / copy server which logs and accounts for their jobs. They cost under £1,500 a piece

And how much are the wages for the photocopier engineers, the server operators, and the clerical staff that researched and authorised the project?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Are the barriers at Leeds now MCard-enabled? It seems to me that the congestion problems at both HUD and LDS are caused by a combination of a huge number of PTE tickets not being able to be operate the gates; and sheer ignorance of a huge number of users who seem to not be able to work out how they are supposed to work! At Wakefield Westgate, however, the problem is more one of staff being too busy talking amongst themselves (and showing each other pornographic videos on their smartphones!) to bother operating the gates for those passengers that do have MCards/DayRovers/Large-format tickets... :roll:

 

[james2trains]

Have they enabled the barriers yet? The article says completion by December 2014.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Have they enabled the barriers yet? The article says completion by December 2014.

They hadn't on Saturday. I asked the attendant when it will be happening, he said "your guess is as good as mine!"...:roll:

 

[47802]

Which is one of my objections to ticket barriers, if your going to have them then should work for the vast majority of tickets and not working for Mcard is unacceptable, if I was still commuting on my metro card as I did years ago I would make a point of complaining about it everyday

 

[alexl92]

They need to bin the barriers and go back to doing it with a member of staff. It was quicker and the barriers are locked open half the time anyway.

 

[Deerfold]

And how much are the wages for the photocopier engineers, the server operators, and the clerical staff that researched and authorised the project?

Over £100,000? Would you be worried if that was the case?

 

[Bantamzen]

Never mind the enabling the barriers, when can we expect Northern to actually be able to sell the MCard passes? At the moment as far as know aside from the travel centre in Bradford, there are only three or four outlets open that do sell them, and some of their opening times or locations don't always suit commuters. So even though I have my little pink MCard in my wallet, it's yet to have been used. It's far more convient for me to buy at Forster Square ticket office, so I'm still on the traditional card based ticket.

It all seems a bit mad for a train company not to sell tickets that it accepts.

 

[johntea]

And when will Metro start offering my yearly MetroCard on a MCard

It really is annoying having gone from a corporate MCard back to a paper MetroCard trying to use the barriers at Leeds. If I see the message 'Reject Passback' one more time I'll scream!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Over £100,000? Would you be worried if that was the case?

I never noticed this point initially. But I had to install the card readers, install and configure the printing system software, link the card readers up to the software. I certainly don't get paid £100,000

How much did the installation at Leeds cost? My point is I guess is that I could understand £100k for a brand new system install but at Huddersfield the barriers will basically just be connected to the existing infrastructure.

 

[Deerfold]

Never mind the enabling the barriers, when can we expect Northern to actually be able to sell the MCard passes? At the moment as far as know aside from the travel centre in Bradford, there are only three or four outlets open that do sell them, and some of their opening times or locations don't always suit commuters. So even though I have my little pink MCard in my wallet, it's yet to have been used. It's far more convient for me to buy at Forster Square ticket office, so I'm still on the traditional card based ticket.

It all seems a bit mad for a train company not to sell tickets that it accepts.

There are the 700 Payzone outlets. Unfortunately the oprning times on the Payzone website are a work of fiction. I've not yet found one that is close to being right and I've been to 4 when they are closed - with the worst one saying it was open 5 hours later on the website. My nearest hasn't managed to have a working machine at the same time as I wanted to buy one.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There are the 700 Payzone outlets. Unfortunately the oprning times on the Payzone website are a work of fiction. I've not yet found one that is close to being right and I've been to 4 when they are closed - with the worst one saying it was open 5 hours later on the website. My nearest hasn't managed to have a working machine at the same time as I wanted to buy one.

I've also noticed that many shop staff at Payzone outlets haven't been trained on how to sell MCards. Bus station travel centres are the best bet, but not much good for those working a 9-5.

 

[185143]

Are the barriers at Leeds now MCard-enabled? It seems to me that the congestion problems at both HUD and LDS are caused by a combination of a huge number of PTE tickets not being able to be operate the gates; and sheer ignorance of a huge number of users who seem to not be able to work out how they are supposed to work! At Wakefield Westgate, however, the problem is more one of staff being too busy talking amongst themselves (and showing each other pornographic videos on their smartphones!) to bother operating the gates for those passengers that do have MCards/DayRovers/Large-format tickets... :roll:

DayRovers work at WKF and HUD.
It wouldn't let me back in though, I only popped out for a coke at Wakefield. I assume this is intentional to prevent a passback?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

DayRovers work at WKF and HUD.
It wouldn't let me back in though, I only popped out for a coke at Wakefield. I assume this is intentional to prevent a passback?

Dayrovers bought at railway stations or from a conductor will work them, but if you have the scratch-off kind you need a staff member. Not a problem if they haven't gone AWOL...

 

[johntea]

DayRovers work at WKF and HUD.
It wouldn't let me back in though, I only popped out for a coke at Wakefield. I assume this is intentional to prevent a passback?

Indeed. But the passback expiry is RIDICULOUSLY LONG. As in, I've exited the barriers at Leeds, gone to McDonalds and bought a meal to take out, gone back to the barriers, REJECT PASSBACK!

The MCard I had seems to be programmed to allow you to 'check out' of the barrier on one side and 'check in' again from the other side which is much more logical!

 

[Deerfold]

They hadn't on Saturday. I asked the attendant when it will be happening, he said "your guess is as good as mine!"...:roll:

My MCard didn't work the barrier at Huddersfield today.

 

[TUC]

And how much are the wages for the photocopier engineers, the server operators, and the clerical staff that researched and authorised the project?

That surely isn't the issue. The point is what it costs the end user i.e. the college. If the service provider says they can provide it for £1500 a piece that is up to them. Assuming that Metro haven't been silly enough to design their own card reader system :roll:it is very hard to see why it should cost £153,000 for a single station.

 

[ajdunlop]

This week there have been stickers (well card and sellotape) added to the card reading part of the barriers with a picture of an MCard and 'software update coming soon' (or something similar). I assume this will work with the rail zoned MCard season tickets but will it allow Pay as you Go travel when it is launched?

 

[Andyh82]

Just shows how much red tape there is with the smallest job in the rail industry.

Most bus operators in West Yorks from the big boys like First/Arriva to a tiny little operation have had smart enabled ticket machines for many months now, but anything to do with the rail industry drags on much longer.

 

[Deerfold]

Nearly 8 months since Metro announced the DfT was paying for these.

You'd think someone would want their 153 grand, wouldn't you.

Unless they've had it in advance.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Nearly 8 months since Metro announced the DfT was paying for these.

You'd think someone would want their 153 grand, wouldn't you.

Unless they've had it in advance.

Funny you should say that, I've just passed through the gates for the 1659 to Leeds, the barriers are now opening for Mcards!

Whether they can distinguish between a valid Mcard and (for example) an Oyster card, or an Mcard with no credit on it, or one loaded only for buses, remains to be seen!

What's the situation with the gates at Leeds, Bradford Interchange and Wakey Westgate?

 

[Deerfold]

Funny you should say that, I've just passed through the gates for the 1659 to Leeds, the barriers are now opening for Mcards!

Whether they can distinguish between a valid Mcard and (for example) an Oyster or an Mcard with no credit on it, or one loaded only for buses, remains to be seen!

What's the situation with the gates at Leeds, Bradford Interchange and Wakey Westgate?

Leeds have worked with MCards for some time. I've had few problems passing through them. I've not tried the card with no valid product loaded.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Leeds have worked with MCards for some time. I've had few problems passing through them.

I thought that might be the case, but I usually have a 2-5 card as I rarely go to Leeds. When I do, I'm usually going to the Brudenell so I'll get a Cottingley to Burley Park return.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
An update: on Wednesday, the unmanned barrier wouldn't accept my Mcard to leave the station, but told me to seek assistance. The man on the supervised wide gate passed me through with only a cursory glance at my Mcard. Will be trying again in a couple of hours...

 

[djjawuk]

So the barriers still don't accept MCards (and the funding runs out at the end of March according to a staff member I spoke to...) but at least the station now has free WiFi!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

So the barriers still don't accept MCards (and the funding runs out at the end of March according to a staff member I spoke to...) but at least the station now has free WiFi!

Apparently some Mcards weren't being accepted, so they've switched the barriers to decline all smartcards until they iron out the issues. At least that's what the staff member I spoke to on Friday said.
As for funding, I do hope that WYITA can reclaim this from FTPE, as it has clearly not delivered on what it was supposed to. Getting them running properly is a commitment in the new franchise extension (as is the station WiFi) so it presumably will happen someday...

 

[johntea]

In reference to an earlier question, as far as I'm aware Westgate doesn't read MCards (not that I ever see the ticket gates actually in operation!).

As I've mentioned before though the MCard project doesn't seem to be the highest priority to actually sort out, STILL waiting for them to offer it for annual MetroCard purchases! (I've had to have my paper based ticket 4 times so far this year )

 

[34D]

Indeed. But the passback expiry is RIDICULOUSLY LONG. As in, I've exited the barriers at Leeds, gone to McDonalds and bought a meal to take out, gone back to the barriers, REJECT PASSBACK!

The MCard I had seems to be programmed to allow you to 'check out' of the barrier on one side and 'check in' again from the other side which is much more logical!

In reference to an earlier question, as far as I'm aware Westgate doesn't read MCards (not that I ever see the ticket gates actually in operation!).

As I've mentioned before though the MCard project doesn't seem to be the highest priority to actually sort out, STILL waiting for them to offer it for annual MetroCard purchases! (I've had to have my paper based ticket 4 times so far this year )

The VTEC barrier line will apparently be hard to enact for M-Cards as talks to a completely different server etc.

The latest paper leaflet about M-Cards suggests normal people should be able to buy one from later in 2015.

PAYG seems to be getting pushed further back.

I can't see it happening for rail until every station has a reader and every ticket office/TVM the ability to top up.

Does anyone on here have a sea-green coloured school card (the one paid for by the local education authority for free home to school transport)? I'm interested to know whether they work at Leeds and Bradford Int barrier lines. School pass is bottom left in this image