class411
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Post by class411 on Jun 8, 2016 11:28:25 GMT
Who is responsible for determining gate assignments - i.e. whether a gate is entry or exit?
At Shepherd's Bush Market, the western side of the station has two normal gates, one for entry and one for egress, but some halfwit keeps changing which is which.
This may not seem important but, at some times of the day the sun shines directly onto the indicators and people entering the station have to peer very closely to see which is which. If a train has just departed this means that they are blocking the exit gate.
It's not a major problem, but continually changing the assignment seems utterly pointless (and a possible safety issue, since it means that people coming down the stairs are scanning the gates rather than looking directly in front of them [if no one is currently acting as a pathfinder]).
The logic of gate assignments at main line termini is even stranger, and often seems as if it's been deliberately done to maximise passenger frustration.
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Post by trt on Jun 8, 2016 11:49:53 GMT
In/Out. In/Out. Shake it all about.
Got stuck behind a left-handed American tourist the other day who simply couldn't work out why they tapped their Oyster at one gate and the paddles on the adjacent gate opened. Must have been watching too much Eastenders.
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jun 8, 2016 11:53:34 GMT
In/Out. In/Out. Shake it all about. Indeed, but why? I've never had a problem with train gates but I have with those b****y awful supermarket self service tills. They almost never mark the weighing area and as I use them very rarely - and when I do it could be at any of the supermarket chains - I can never remember where they are. On the other hand, the self-scan system that is even more self service works like a charm! (Continued) |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2016 13:57:38 GMT
I have a feeling we were once talking about ticket barriers ...
If you want to start a thread bemoaning self-service checkouts, please feel free to do so in On Diversion.
Cheers.
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jun 8, 2016 14:02:37 GMT
I have a feeling we were once talking about ticket barriers ...
If you want to start a thread bemoaning self-service checkouts, please feel free to do so in On Diversion.
Cheers.
Already done. [ETA: Well, I started typing the new thread's OP before the above was posted.  ]If some kindly mod would move the OT posts here to that thread I would be most grateful. |
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Post by trt on Jun 8, 2016 14:55:41 GMT
I sometimes think that the gateline at Euston Mainline on 8-11 should be set in/out/in/out/in/out etc instead of in/in/in/in out/out/out/out, because depending on where trains come in, you can get crossing over of streams of people. By spacing them out a little and letting them free mingle, I think you could achieve a better flow from an individual point of view. Worth a shot anyway.
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Post by MoreToJack on Jun 8, 2016 17:33:13 GMT
I can't talk for smaller stations, as I've no experience of working at one, but broadly speaking the gate array will be set based firstly on any fixed signage that is in place, and then for optimum passenger flow - so you might have more entry gates in the morning and more exit gates in the evening, for example. Most of the time the array settings will be determined by gateline staff, but at larger stations there may be specific instructions from the control room for purposes of congestion control.
I am reminded of an occurrence at King's Cross St. Pancras around a month ago which caused carnage in the morning peak. A fault with an escalator meant that we had to reverse the usual set up - commuters are people of habit and were very confused that the usual entry side was exit and the usual exit side for entry. Ultimately, though, this caused less trouble than leaving the gates as they were and having people cross over to get to the escalators! Still... only morning that week that we didn't have major control in place, with just one gate open for entry.
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