Not very obvious though. Why can't the gates when set to open accepts
cards
from both ends?


The question has been asked but I think that Oyter would want to discourage
staff from leaving gates open and so would not invest in such an upgrade.

Why don't they ever use the gates at Finchly Central? Surely there were
aware of the other exit when they spent several thousands installing them.


The original plan was to have gates at both entrances. This became
impossible for many reasons. Instead of sorting out the problem this
solution was forced onto management. It is impossible to find out exactly
who was at fault and those involved are no longer around.
At present it is deamed unsafe to have the gates working properly because of
the limited amount of space in the ticket hall.
There will however be a new risk assessment made and hopefully the
conclusion to this is that something more positive than leaving tens of
thousands of pounds of equipment unused will be sought.

Also, when the revenue inspectors are holding up everyone at the stairs,
why can't they switch the gates on and check people's tickets at the
station road exit.

To have a proper revenue exercise it would take at least two inspectors at
station road and three in the ticket hall. Without the use of the gates I
think it would create chaos.