I love the ticket systems in places like Berlin, Helsinki, Heidelberg, and Tampere. They don’t use turnstiles at all, just occasional onboard ticket checkers.
It’s so much faster for large groups of people to move through the stations so it keeps people moving instead of piling up at a ticket machine, even ones as fast as those in London.
You don’t need officers standing guard at turnstiles, just extra onboard sweeps to keep most people honest.
Even better is a whole free system like some cities are going to. LA is having a freeway widening project happening. If the money for that went to their public transit system, they could make it fare free for 20 years at the same price point as “just one more lane, bro” of freeway that will still be a parking lot anyway.
I wish the UK would go to the German system. Particularly the 50EUR/m unlimited slow train travel, that’s goddamned amazing.
I’d consider getting rid of my car if we had that here.
IDK about that, have you ever been handcuffed and arrested by an armed uniformed police officer because you didn’t spend $3? Lots of people in NYC have. The transit system in Berlin sounds similar to the one we have where I live (not NYC). Here, you can get a fine (a couple hundred dollars iirc) and kicked off the train, but that’s it. Not pleasant, certainly enough to keep me honest, but a damn sight better than having a police record and maybe getting shot by a cop.
Dunno how it works there, as I’ve never used public transport there, but here in Tampere we have ticket readers right next to tram doors and everyone taps their card / mobile on those to activate the ticket. Not easy to forget at all. Same in local trains.
The thing I hated about the Munich system was having to validate your ticket. My girlfriend and her friends got harassed and threatened by a cop because they didn’t know they had to validate the tickets they bought.
The problem with this approach is that the NYC subway cars in Manhattan and the surrounding areas are usually packed like to the point where you can’t even move. Also, so many people get on and off so quickly that it would be difficult to keep track of people.
I love the ticket systems in places like Berlin, Helsinki, Heidelberg, and Tampere. They don’t use turnstiles at all, just occasional onboard ticket checkers.
It’s so much faster for large groups of people to move through the stations so it keeps people moving instead of piling up at a ticket machine, even ones as fast as those in London.
You don’t need officers standing guard at turnstiles, just extra onboard sweeps to keep most people honest.
Even better is a whole free system like some cities are going to. LA is having a freeway widening project happening. If the money for that went to their public transit system, they could make it fare free for 20 years at the same price point as “just one more lane, bro” of freeway that will still be a parking lot anyway.
I know someone that grew up in LA. Their childhood home was demolished and turned into an extra lane for the freeway.
Same in Oslo. No turnstiles, you are just expected to have a valid ticket, (mainly digital) within the zone. And you can get checked at any time
Other than London, is there any European city with turnstiles? I’ve been traveling extensively and never noticed any.
Lisbon has them, and I believe so does Porto (the only two portuguese cities with subway)
Stockholms has automatic gates that open once your ticket gets scanned. So basically the same function?
Paris for the metro/rer.
The big lines/intercity often have no one checking at the entrance, but do fairly regular ticket checks once on board.
The Netherlands recently switched to turnstyles.
Stockholm at least has them.
What do they do if you are caught without a ticket?
You get IDd and a fine.
You can either pay it there or get it mailed, but then it’s like 20% more expensive
Another star for Norway. If I could get family issues disentangled, I’d be applying for jobs there in a heartbeat.
Most of Sweden does it that way too
I wish the UK would go to the German system. Particularly the 50EUR/m unlimited slow train travel, that’s goddamned amazing.
I’d consider getting rid of my car if we had that here.
Berliner here. That’s not better at all. It makes it much easier to forget to validate the ticket, and the people who control are usually assholes.
IDK about that, have you ever been handcuffed and arrested by an armed uniformed police officer because you didn’t spend $3? Lots of people in NYC have. The transit system in Berlin sounds similar to the one we have where I live (not NYC). Here, you can get a fine (a couple hundred dollars iirc) and kicked off the train, but that’s it. Not pleasant, certainly enough to keep me honest, but a damn sight better than having a police record and maybe getting shot by a cop.
Dunno how it works there, as I’ve never used public transport there, but here in Tampere we have ticket readers right next to tram doors and everyone taps their card / mobile on those to activate the ticket. Not easy to forget at all. Same in local trains.
The thing I hated about the Munich system was having to validate your ticket. My girlfriend and her friends got harassed and threatened by a cop because they didn’t know they had to validate the tickets they bought.
That’s a job requirement.
London can take tens of minutes to get a ticket in peak times. Not a problem for most commuters, but for tourists and random travellers it sucks
Why would you get a ticket for the tube/bus/overground? You can now pay with any contactless card or apple/android pay.
The tube is fine, it’s the inter city rail that sucks
Can’t argue there, but I do recommend a train ticket app for e-tickets
This guy Finlands. Two of those cities are the same country haha. Toriiii 🇫🇮
The problem with this approach is that the NYC subway cars in Manhattan and the surrounding areas are usually packed like to the point where you can’t even move. Also, so many people get on and off so quickly that it would be difficult to keep track of people.
A better reason to make all these free is that they are largely funded by taxes in the first place.
71% for the MTA in NY.
https://cbcny.org/research/how-much-do-city-taxpayers-really-contribute-mta
Save money by getting rid of the ticket infrastructure and enforcement and encourage use.
LA does have turnstile-free trains though.
People in LA don’t want a free system. Unfortunately we have a lot of problems that free covid fares exacerbated.