That problem was/is caused by the "passback" detection. This feature is
designed to stop you from passing your ticket back to a friend and then
allowing him to use the same ticket to open the automatic gate.
To prevent this, there is a 5 minute (or so) delay programmed, during which
time you cannot unlock the gate again (unless you have in the meantime gone
out through the gate in the other direction).
But they seem to have gone a bit overboard with implementing it, as it
happens on ALL validators. It is especially annoying when you buy a ticket
on a tram. The TVM validates your ticket, and if you then stick it into a
validator on the tram within 5 minutes, it will say "PASSBACK", even though
it is not relevant in this situation. I have seen many people do this, and
wonder what the hell the message means.
You will also see it causing problems with people who are unfamiliar with
the automatic gates. I have seen a few (left handed?) people, put their
ticket in, and then try and walk through the adjacent (still closed) gate.
The correct gate has opened, but they haven't seen it. In the meantime,
someone else comes and walks through the open gate. The person with the
valid ticket then can't unlock the gate again for 5 minutes, even though
their ticket is still valid.
The situation is a real problem at Flinders St. where the "helpful" Met
guys keep bouncing around the gates, blocking and unblocking the lightbeams
as they lean over to help people. Sometimes the gates get confused, and I
have seen people with valid tickets get locked in, because the Met guy has
caused the gate to close before the person has got through.
On the subject of Flinders St, and the other City stations; does anyone
have any idea why they are persisting in operating _all_ the gates in
bi-directional mode? This means that people can come up to either side of
the gates, and get through on a first-come first-served basis. It causes
huge delays and confusion, with people pushing through groups of other
people, and people wondering why the gate suddenly won't accept their
ticket, etc. There are plenty of gates to have half set for IN and half for
OUT. It really annoys me to see them putting more obstacles in the way of
the smooth flow of passengers than there need to be.
Regards,
Mike Alexander
(malex@bigfoot.com)