The gates must be manned. But they can be monitored from a ticket office.
They have a plunger in there also. If your ticket doesn't work you are
expected to go to the excess fare window, show your ticket and the person in
the office will let you out. Not through the side gate.
The 5 second rule is also if someone gets caught in a gate....child perhaps.
Monitoring can be done remotely. Staff don't like it but thats the way LUL
say is OK after risk assesment.

Mal

"T.S. Cordiner" wrote in message
...
Mal wrote:

IT's a legal requirement that the gate line be manned - I'd use the
emergency button.

Not technically correct. It's a requirement for the gates to be
monitored,
which can be remotely, and the emergency plunger activated.

Hi,

I've noted this gate manning issue before (although it didn't seem too
well enforced at Stamford Brook in the evenings that I could *see*) but am
a little confused by the real issue. Do the gates need to be manned?

Having moved to New York this summer, I am interested that despite being a
daily commuter I've not spoken to one member of MTA staff and apart from a
few ticket clerks (with big signs listing the tickets one has to buy from
the machine--which is pretty much all of them!) in their cubicles, the
subway seems to run fine without all the gate line staff milling around.
Indeed, as a fairly regular tourist to New York I had the view that the
tube was a much better, safer, cleaner, more efficient mode than the NYC
subway, but I have to say my 25 minute daily commute on the 1 line from
the Village to the UWS is a pleasure and we seem to manage fine without
any gate line staff (next train departure boards would be nice though.)

So my question is, is the MTA putting its passengers in danger, or are the
gates of the NYC system very different from London's (they appear more
dangerous to me, but beyond cries of "health and safety" I am unsure
exactly what the argument for the gateline staff is anyway), or are these
"health and safety" reasons for manning gatelines actually a very
expensive policy decision with little benefit to passengers or the
commerical operator?

Any expert knowledge welcomed,

Tom

--
T.S.Cordiner
Columbia University, New York City.

Mal wrote:

The gates must be manned. But they can be monitored from a ticket office.
They have a plunger in there also. If your ticket doesn't work you are
expected to go to the excess fare window, show your ticket and the person in
the office will let you out. Not through the side gate.
The 5 second rule is also if someone gets caught in a gate....child perhaps.
Monitoring can be done remotely. Staff don't like it but thats the way LUL
say is OK after risk assesment.

Like I said in the OP - there are often no visible staff at East
Putney. Ticket office closed, gates shut, no one responding to the
information button. Hence it isn't possible to go to the excess fare
window

I am sure there is someone in there somewhere. If not HMRI would be very
interested.
Take times next time it happens, post it and i'll look into it. I only say
that as i'm confident if i ask they will tell me its all ok.......

Mal

"Chris!" wrote in message
oups.com...

Mal wrote:

The gates must be manned. But they can be monitored from a ticket office.
They have a plunger in there also. If your ticket doesn't work you are
expected to go to the excess fare window, show your ticket and the person
in
the office will let you out. Not through the side gate.
The 5 second rule is also if someone gets caught in a gate....child
perhaps.
Monitoring can be done remotely. Staff don't like it but thats the way
LUL
say is OK after risk assesment.

Like I said in the OP - there are often no visible staff at East
Putney. Ticket office closed, gates shut, no one responding to the
information button. Hence it isn't possible to go to the excess fare
window

Mal wrote:

I am sure there is someone in there somewhere. If not HMRI would be very
interested.
Take times next time it happens, post it and i'll look into it. I only say
that as i'm confident if i ask they will tell me its all ok.......

There may well be someone in there somewhere but when the curtains down
there is no way of contacting them - the glass is so thick that banging
on it does nothing and when I had a problem in the past the information
button was ignored. I have complained about the lack of staff at this
station before (e.g. when I was the only person on the platform and
there was a huge unattended bag I had to wait until I got further down
the line to report it)

When was last time?

"Chris!" wrote in message
oups.com...

Mal wrote:

I am sure there is someone in there somewhere. If not HMRI would be very
interested.
Take times next time it happens, post it and i'll look into it. I only
say
that as i'm confident if i ask they will tell me its all ok.......

There may well be someone in there somewhere but when the curtains down
there is no way of contacting them - the glass is so thick that banging
on it does nothing and when I had a problem in the past the information
button was ignored. I have complained about the lack of staff at this
station before (e.g. when I was the only person on the platform and
there was a huge unattended bag I had to wait until I got further down
the line to report it)

Mal wrote:

When was last time?


I don't remember the exact dates (although I presume my complaints were
logged when, for example, I reported an unattended bag at East Putney
but actually reported it at South Kensington - complete with lack of
staff explanation)

Due to the continuing problems on the Wimbledon line and the
unpredictability of journey times I have been cycling most days for the
past 5 months so I am unlikely to see this happen often enough to get a
good picture of exactly how frequently it happens.

Chris