waterloo east and southwark ticket barriers

[hi2u_uk]

When you exit a southeastern train service at waterloo east via the southwark tube exit you have to pass through one set of barriers then a metre later there is another set. Due to thameslink work both of these barriers now appear to be staffed by one tfl person and one southeastern person. Why are there two sets so close to each other ???

 

[Deerfold]

When you exit a southeastern train service at waterloo east via the southwark tube exit you have to pass through one set of barriers then a metre later there is another set. Due to thameslink work both of these barriers now appear to be staffed by one tfl person and one southeastern person. Why are there two sets so close to each other ???

I'm not sure why but I know a little history here. The underground gates have been there since the jubilee line opened with the Waterloo East ones only having been there a few years.

If you have a paper ticket which is swallowed you can get stranded between the two as there's nowhere between to buy another ticket (I'm assuming one of the staff will be able to help you in some way).

I used to use this underground walkway to get to Waterloo from my office when it was raining but as my usual ticket is only valid on the underground I can no longer.

 

[causton]

There are ticket machines there I am not sure if they are within "paid" areas. I bought a single which was swallowed by the LU barriers to test and was told by the SE guy to either buy a new ticket or go back and tell the LU guy to fish my ticket out and let me back out the other exit!

 

[Deerfold]

There are ticket machines there I am not sure if they are within "paid" areas. I bought a single which was swallowed by the LU barriers to test and was told by the SE guy to either buy a new ticket or go back and tell the LU guy to fish my ticket out and let me back out the other exit!

The machines must be fairly new. A colleague got caught in there when the SE barriers were new and they weren't there then.

 

[telstarbox]

It's a shame you can't access Waterloo East from the east end (without going via Southwark tube) as it would be a useful connection to the area between Waterloo and London Bridge. Has this ever been considered?

 

[swt_passenger]

It's a shame you can't access Waterloo East from the east end (without going via Southwark tube) as it would be a useful connection to the area between Waterloo and London Bridge. Has this ever been considered?

I think it definitely was considered by the local authority planning procedures, and they insisted on TfL designing it to discourage the use of the Southwark tube entrance as a back door into the mainline complex.

So it isn't that they've accidentally missed an 'ordinary and direct' entrance to Waterloo East, they actively ruled it out.

 

[47513 Severn]

There are LU and Southeastern ticket machines in the area between the barriers. The only real oddity is the proximity of the two barrier lines although they are somewhat more than a metre apart as suggested by the OP. It is quite common to pass through one barrier to exit the underground and through another to enter the national rail paid side at interchange stations (and pass ticketing facilities on the way) they are usually further apart though.

Not quite the same but it is possible to pass through three barrier lines when exiting Canary Wharf Jubilee line station if you use the right combination of escalator and exit. I found this out last week after changing my mind about a visit to Waitrose.

47513

 

[swt_passenger]

It is quite common to pass through one barrier to exit the underground and through another to enter the national rail paid side at interchange stations (and pass ticketing facilities on the way) they are usually further apart though.

But this is almost certainly the only site where there's no access to the street between the two barrier lines, which is the basic discussion point...

 

[joeykins82]

I'd guess that TfL didn't want an ungated route to the Jubilee line at Southwark, but it wasn't practical to secure all of the routes through to Waterloo East. Having the double gateline would've been more acceptable than a single gateline followed by standalone Oyster validators.

 

[Deerfold]

I'd guess that TfL didn't want an ungated route to the Jubilee line at Southwark, but it wasn't practical to secure all of the routes through to Waterloo East. Having the double gateline would've been more acceptable than a single gateline followed by standalone Oyster validators.

As I've mentioned earlier the TfL gateline was there for years before the Southeastern gates.

 

[joeykins82]

Maybe the lack of a SouthEastern gateline was causing a disproportionate number of Oyster PAYG refunds to be issued to travellers through that route?

 

[Deerfold]

Maybe the lack of a SouthEastern gateline was causing a disproportionate number of Oyster PAYG refunds to be issued to travellers through that route?

It shouldn't have been - TfL set the gates to allow PAYG users to pass through at no charge in 2010 before the SE gates were there:

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4395

Unfortunately if PAYG users pass through Waterloo East they'll now pay at least £1.50 for using the shortcut.

 

[infobleep]

I'd guess that TfL didn't want an ungated route to the Jubilee line at Southwark, but it wasn't practical to secure all of the routes through to Waterloo East. Having the double gateline would've been more acceptable than a single gateline followed by standalone Oyster validators.

Waterloo entrance to the Waterloo and City Line only has Oyster validators. I'm sure that's not the only station either.

 

[joeykins82]

I meant in the sense that someone could do the following:

Tap in as they enter underground network (say, Jubilee line at Bond Street)
Alight at Southwark
Tap out at the Southwark to Waterloo East single gateline
Board a SouthEastern service
Either alight at a SE station without a gateline and inadvertently tap in at the Oyster validator, or potentially get charged the maximum fare for tapping out at the gateline

 

[RJ]

I got caught between the two once. Came out of the Underground and wanted a Priv ticket to Lewisham, which is cheaper than anything available from the TVM. Lewisham ticket office also would have been closed by the time I reached there. Southeastern said I'd have to buy a ticket from the TVM and travel to Charing Cross to have it refunded and sold a Priv ticket. The other options were to be let through, where the RPI present would charge me "big fine", or implore Underground staff to let me back in without a valid ticket, go out the other end and go to a different station to buy a Priv ticket - LU can't sell Priv tickets to holders of non-safeguarded Privs. National Rail and the TSA state Waterloo East has no ticket office, but Southeastern are adamant that a separate station with a ticket office counts as a ticket office for Waterloo East.

It's stupid to have a situation where you can be stuck between gatelines with no means of leaving the situation - staff who are unwilling to excise common sense when the ticket issuing facilities are inadequate and no warning of the limited facilities available. Sometimes the Underground advertises that certain exits can only be used by ticket holders, but that isn't even the case because there are LU and Southeastern TVMs in place.