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By the end of this week, we should see gates in the Metro Purple Line Wilshire/Normandie station, reports LA Streetsblog: "Once the Wilshire/Normandie installation is completed, Metro will continue along the Red and Purple Lines, a process that Rick Jager estimates could take up to six months before moving on to the Green Line, then the Blue Line and finally, the Gold Line." But that doesn't mean they'll be in working condition. "A start date for the turnstiles to be operational hasn't been announced, nor whether they will begin operation "piecemeal" or wait until the system is installed at every rail stop."
First Subway Fare Gates Coming this Week
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Begley is a raving nutball and he is dead wrong. StrokerMcgurk
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what about those of us who use the ez regional pass without a bar code/tap chip?
I'm guessing you need to change it out for a TAP Card. And remember, these won't start working until months from now. They will just be obstacles to get around for now.
Waste of money!
I haven't looked at their proposal, but I'm remember seeing estimate of how much money they loose every year because of people riding for free. They somehow priced it out that the turnstiles will be more cost-effective than ticketing violators - though I'm sure they'll still ticket people for breaking the rules. Er, well, they can START ticketing people for breaking the rules.
not a waste of money.
msmerymac is correct.
it was reported that approximately 30% of revenue was lost due to people riding for free.
sure there will be gate hoppers here and there but i think these a great idea and will help bring in more dough in the long run.
Yet, if the percentage of transients are factored into that "30 percent lost revenue", then the turnstiles seem silly and overpriced. As reported in Citybeat a while back, they are being built by a firm with a "no-bid" contract - so the price tag is steep.
Plus, the thing that seems the most alarming - they are trading turnstiles for MTA patrolmen - [The endgame is rfid (trackable) tap cards. Umm, eww.] I much prefer the human security element to the robotic. The worst scoundrels will still hop the turnstiles/game the system.
Also, you know how myriad escalators are broken every other week? Well the TAP machines seem handicapped by the same inept build quality. They malfunction *alot* - expect large logjams - I would imagine that a few work tardies will drive even the diligent from the transit.
How do you get your Stroller/Bike/Luggage/Christmas tree around or over these gates? Are you to lift them and try not to hit anyone in the face with your tree?
I am not sure if you ever took metro in other cities, but in addition to rotating turnarounds there will be side gate that allows you to take your bike through as well as stroller if you are taking your kid, etc.
This is 21st century time for Metro to catch up with rest of the world. Oh and why can't I load money onto my TAP yet, wtf Metro.
uhhhh since when are turnstiles a symbol of the 21st century?
What a shame that we have to deal with unneeded gates just so that the MTA board can give a lucrative contracts to their friends. I ride the Metro regularly and seldom have I encountered a fair inspector. I am much more likely to run across venders, dirty homeless people, and noise kids playing than a fair inspector. We will still have teases problems with gates and even less people on trains to “protect” riders from grief. Hiring more fair inspectors would have cost a whole lot less and provide a secondary advantage of more safety on board the trains with more inspectors riding the trains than gates ever will.
The sheriff inspectors are visible and the downtown stations but normally in gropes talking to each other and not looking at tickets. Leave it to the MTA board to make the most expensive and poorest decision as usual. How are riders going to be able to enter stations if the gates jam or the wheelchair gate can not open and there are no attendants at the station? What if there is an emergency at a station and the gates jam or can not accommodate large amounts of exiting passengers. At least in other cities with gates there attendants at every station to help if there are problems.
So bottom line we all pay millions of dollars for the gates and their installation, pay more for attendants and people to keep the gates working and get no more paying riders than if more inspectors were hired and have less safety on trains and in stations. So why the gates?
Gates are an industry standard. And not ALL stations have attendants anymore. Many of the EMERGENCIES that you predict will be seen on remote camera and security will be called on to solve the problem. This is such a stupid argument. Of course gates are needed!
And you must not look the way I look or go to the places I go via transit because I be damned if there isn't a fare inspector everytime I transfer onto the Green Line at the Rosa Parks station. Many days I've wished for gates that people could just get through instead of masses of people fumbling through their coats and purses looking for a ticket that they know they didn't purchase.
BRING ON THE GATES!!
If you ride Metrolink on a monthly or 10-trip ticket prepare to get a TAP card to carry around a Metro monthly pass on. If you ride Metrolink occasionally on one-way or round-trip tickets, you're out a luck. Transfers are going to be stripped away from you once the fare gates are fully operational.
Love that regional connectivity!
While living in NYC I don't remeber being able to hop on the A and transfer freely onto a LIRR or Metro North....shit, you don't even get a free transfer if you'd just like to hop over to Jersey..in fact every urban area that I've been to where I've had to take urban rail then transfer over to commuter rail (which is what Metrolink is) never gave me a free transfer. Are you familiar with other metro systems around the country and world? You seem to be sorely underexposed.