Ticket gates issues

[Thomas Ralph]

It's come up in a couple of posts that people have been having problems with the new-style ticket gates as installed from Clontarf Road to Lansdowne Road, as well as at (among other stations) Blackrock. This thread is for posting of any issues that people have had, in the hope that we can identify a pattern.

When posting, please include as much as possible of the following details. The more you include, the easier it is to figure out the root cause of the problem.

• Ticket type
• Stations (to/from) on the ticket
• What station you had the gate problem at
• Were you entering or leaving the station?
• Had you validated the ticket already (for that journey or otherwise)?
• What error message did the turnstile display?

Note that the errors "Wrong side up/Bun os cionn" and "Ticket failed/Theip ar an ticéad" just mean that the gate could not read the magnetic stripe on your ticket, so shouldn't be reported.

[Thomas Ralph]

I'll kick off:

Faircard return ticket, Sandymount to Cork, rejected at Pearse station trying to leave on the outbound journey, ticket was validated at Sandymount on entry, turnstile said "Destination exceeded/Imithe thar ceann scrÃ*be".

Note that on a subsequent journey when I had not validated the ticket entering the system at Sandymount, the gates opened with the message "Journey Taken, Take Ticket/Turas Togtha".

[Thomas Ralph]

And another one:

Faircard return, Heuston to Cork, accepted for travel entering the system at Connolly, not previously validated (although the ticket had been used for a return journey).

(And yes, I had a valid weekly ticket for the journey I was making. RUI doesn't encourage fare evasion.)

[ThomasJ]

They haven't been installed at clonsilla.

[Mark Gleeson]

All reservation tickets will result in a 'Wrong Side Up' this is due to the fact the reserved tickets are not magnetically encoded

Its in the pipeline to be fixed in coming months

[Mark Gleeson]

Curiously after it happening several times it didn't happen to me today

http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showpo...52&postcount=6

The curious cycle of post problem here and problem is mysteriously fixed a few days later...

[Thomas Ralph]

A bumper Christmas selection today:

The previously-mentioned Heuston-Cork ticket worked in the turnstile at Sandymount (expected "No valid route").

A return from Pearse to Sandymount, validated at Pearse was refused at Connolly exit gate on the return journey as "Exit too late" (expected "Destination exceeded").

A Faircard single from Sandymount to Cork, not validated getting on at Sandymount was refused with "Journey taken, destination exceeded" (expected to be accepted).

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

A return from Pearse to Sandymount, validated at Pearse was refused at Connolly exit gate on the return journey as "Exit too late" (expected "Destination exceeded").

Was it validated at Sandymount on the return leg? Thats the bug I see too often

[Thomas Ralph]

No, I used a different ticket.

[Mark Gleeson]

Discovered a classic one which will catch people at a Connolly side station

Go to TVM tap D, you get Dublin City Centre great tap that and skip the Luas valid bit, same price as a single to Pearse or Connolly

But it won't work in the gates in Pearse, 'no valid route'

[Thomas Ralph]

Single from Sandymount to Connolly, failed on exit at Pearse with "just validated". I did get straight onto the train at Sandymount and off quite smartly at Pearse, but surely it makes no sense for exit gates to reject tickets like this when there are no journeys left.

[Mark Gleeson]

There is a timeout on the tickets, same ticket needs at least 10 minutes between uses in gates, yes I know its crazy but it was never a problem before

My exit too late problem has returned

[Thomas Ralph]

It didn't help that the clock was wrong on the entrance gate at Sandymount; I put the ticket through at 0821 and it printed 0825 on it.

The timeout is definitely necessary to prevent people just putting the same season ticket through several times in a row, but this issue is a bug, and it would seem obvious that "Just validated" shouldn't trigger if the ticket was last validated at a different station.

[Colm Moore]

Using my (bus) smartcard the other day, I got on the bus, only to realise that a better routed bus was almost immediately behind, so I got off. The second bus already knew that I had tagged on to the first bus and gave a warning beep. The driver just waved me on without explanation, although he may have seen me get off the other bus.

[Thomas Ralph]

The bus timeout is allegedly 2 minutes, according to the Dublin Bus leaflet.

The train timeout is unclear; I managed to go in at 08:20 and out at 08:28 this morning without any hassle.

[Thomas Ralph]

I had a 16-25 Railcard return from Sandymount to Cork, which was validated outbound at Heuston and on exit there, but was rejected at
Connolly on the way back it gave the error "Invalid station", whatever that's supposed to mean.

[Thomas Ralph]

The time-out on tickets needs some work. I know the idea is to stop people using the same ticket (generally a season ticket) to put multiple people through the same gates. However, a ticket validated at Lansdowne Road at 0823 should let you out of Pearse at 0829. At the moment, it doesn't; the gate says "Just validated".

Obviously the time that the ticket was last validated is encoded onto the stripe; I wonder is this the same for the station and direction (in/out)? Even if not, common sense suggests that if the ticket has no journeys left (single or inbound half of a return) there is no possible way of it being reused.

[ThomasJ]

I have been having major issues with my bus and rail smartcard-type-pass at the turnstiles over the last 2 weeks, all of a sudden on tuesday it started working again and have had no problems since!

[Mark Gleeson]

One big gotcha I've noticed

If the ticket reader jams the gate does not change from green to red, it just displays a message on the small screen

You end up standing there looking like a fool trying to insert your ticket to no avail

[MOH]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

The time-out on tickets needs some work. I know the idea is to stop people using the same ticket (generally a season ticket) to put multiple people through the same gates. However, a ticket validated at Lansdowne Road at 0823 should let you out of Pearse at 0829. At the moment, it doesn't; the gate says "Just validated".

Obviously the time that the ticket was last validated is encoded onto the stripe; I wonder is this the same for the station and direction (in/out)? Even if not, common sense suggests that if the ticket has no journeys left (single or inbound half of a return) there is no possible way of it being reused.

It's a moronic system - it doesn't differentiate between in and out. Went down to Blackrock station on Tuesday, reached the platform to find indefinite delays due to the train failure at Dun Laoghaire. Went straight back out but couldn't exit. Had to shout at the ticket desk and eventually got his attention after he'd finished serving someone and he let me out. I was about to climb over it.