On Jan 13, 12:57 am, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
In article
,

(Paul Oter) wrote:
As I mentioned, the problem is mainly in the western ticket hall,
(which I use every weekday morning) as can be seen by the number of
card slots that have tape over them. However the absence of tape
doesn't guarantee that the card slot will work. Others have
complained about this on uk.railway and uk.transport.london over the
past year or so.

That equipment must be almost new. How appalling.

It's not so bad in the tube ticket hall (which I use every weekday
evening) though I have certainly had problems there as well.

I've seen slots taped over, but not often.


0915 today: King's Cross Underground Station, Western Ticket Hall.
The station had only just been re-opened after yet another station
closure so there were a lot of people trying to get into the station.
Normally the left-most six ticket gates are available to passengers
who want to get to the Met/Circle H+C platforms.

Gate 1: Appeared to be working properly, with people going through
Gate 2: Oystercard reader working but card slot taped up.
Gate 3: Set "no entry" for no obvious reason.
Gate 4: Apparently working, but ominously nobody was using it despite
the throng of people trying to get through the gates. I approached the
gate and offered my ticket to the card slot. It wouldn't go in (i.e. a
mechanical problem either with the rollers or the card detection
system that activates them). I shrugged and joined the queue of people
who had clearly just done the same and were now waiting to go through
the fifth gate.
Gate 5: Working OK. It accepted my card without problem.
Gate 6 (minded by the staff member): Working OK.

(So out of six entry gates, Oystercard holders could use five and
paper ticket holders could only use three).

Gates 7-12 All set for exit and apparently working.

PaulO