The gates have problems but they have had a massive impact on fare evasion in the last few years
When the person in front of you has removed their ticket insert yours and the gate will stay open. The problem with that is finding a line of commuters whose tickets will all work in the gates
Smartcard tickets are getting ever closer which will solve the validation problems, far side of this summer
The real problem is the focus on evasion detection instead of a focus on making it easy to get a ticket before you board
There are other side benefits, a smartcard ticket reported lost/stolen will be refused by the gates thus putting an end to the replacement charges on annual tickets
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