On 12 Sep 2006 09:29:06 -0700, "Neil Williams"
wrote:

Remember that barriers are, in
the first place, foreign to much of Europe, let alone further afield.


??? No they're not. Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, New York, Sydney,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok- the metro systems in these and many
many other cities - in fact I'd go so far as to say most cities of the
world - have barriers.

I'd put money on very few foreign travellers managing to get to London
without ever having seen a barrier on a metro system.