Passive gate or turnstile

Gates and turnstiles tend to operate in one of three modes:

• Customer-operated, where the customer can pass by just pushing the device or by being detected.
• Operated by the transit personnel, where the transit personnel press a button or lever to allow the gate to open or turnstile to rotate after they have paid their fare or shown a valid travel document. Gates and turnstiles may also be operated remotely – e.g. by staff in control centers.
• Activated by a device which carries out the ticket validation and/or fare collection function.

Gates which are customer-operated or manually operated by transit personnel can be deemed passive, and are the subject of this section. Gates which carry out the ticket validation and/or fare collection function are covered in the following sections.

In the passenger transport sector, gates and turnstiles are used in the following locations:

• At entry points to the controlled areas of rail stations, and often also at the exit points.
• At entry points to platforms and boarding areas of bus terminals, where the control and/or fare collection is carried out prior to boarding.
• At the entry points to closed BRT stations, to complete the control and fare collection prior to bus arrival, and facilitate rapid boarding time.
• At the entry and/or exit points of buses, to ensure that customers pay a tariff or present a valid travel document.

Gates and turnstiles are used for the following main applications:

• Fare collection and revenue protection, so that customers may only enter the controlled area after they have paid a fare or presented a travel document.
• Boarding control, so that no further customers can board the vehicle or enter the platform area when it is deemed full.
• Flow management, to regulate the number of people passing through an area, and prevent surges of people. It can also be used to temporarily halt the flow of people when the downstream area cannot safely accommodate them.
• Directional control, to allow people to pass in one direction, but not in another – e.g. at the exit point from the controlled area, to prevent customers entering from that point and avoiding the fare control point.

Benefits of gates and turnstiles

This section considers the general benefits of gate and turnstile barriers. The following sections consider the additional benefits of specific types of fare collection interface for the gates or turnstiles. The general benefits are:

• Supports fare collection and validation processes.
• Supports revenue protection processes.
• Assists separation of fare collection and boarding.
• Manages passenger flows.
• Can be used to prevent or diffuse unsafe situations.
• Can be integrated with other devices.
• Mature technology, with wide range of options.

Cautions with regard to gates and turnstiles are:

• Equipment must be purchased, can require relatively high investment.
• Installation costs may be high, and may require significant work and adaptation of host environment.
• Can be quite intrusive in confined spaces.
• On vehicles, may slow the boarding time and increase dwell time at stops.
• Significant management and maintenance task.
• Integration with other devices may be problematic.