I haven't been able to find any answers by searching the internet so I hope you may be able to help. I wonder if you could possibly provide me with some information about the ticket/oyster barriers that you use at your stations? I work for the Forestry Commission at Westonbirt Arboretum and we are looking to upgrade our pedestrian barrier system. The one which we use currently has been in place for about three years and hasn't fared particularly well in the conditions. I would really appreciate it if someone could provide some information about the system that TfL uses, including its costs, longevity and reliability.

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TfL Ref: 4320-1718

Thank you for your email received on asking for information about ticket gate lines.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.

TfL employs 3 versions of gates, these being Electronic (E) and Pneumatic (P) . We have two versions of the E gate, a second generation called E2 was brought in as it was cheaper to procure, manufacture, install and maintain with electrical power supplied by stations. Pneumatic gates are powered by under the floor air compressor units. P gates have been in operation since the inception of Oyster in 1998 with the Egates being brought into operation in the early 2000’s. A more recent version of the E2 gate known as the Wide Aisle Gate was brought in for Health and Safety and barrier control reasons. This gate is wider allowing for customers with children with pushchairs, wheelchair users and customers with luggage. All gates are manufactured and supplied by TfL’s revenue collection Contractor  Cubic Transportation Systems, who are also suppliers of much of the country’s travel gating systems.   

Every gate has a gate reader which controls the opening and closing of the gate paddles subject to the validity of the card being used or travel. A  Logical Processor Unit is installed within the gate that determines the validity of the card presented and base on the information received will allow or deny access through the gate. On average our gates are managing in excess of 8 million transactions per day.

The reliability of our gating system is measured by mean cycles between faults (MCBF), the number of transactions we can expect our gates to manage before a fault may occur. Our average MCBF is 60,000. The availability of our gates is measured based on the number of faults each gates incurs and the amount of time that gate will be out of service. We see our whole gating system which comprises of 2648 gates on our London Underground stations available 99% of the time.     

If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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