Great Western Coffee Shop

Last time I passed through the gates, I noticed a new automatic disabled gate has been installed.  The old manual style gates at either end remain.

The barriers are similar to those used by SWT and work in the same way as normal barriers (i.e. they gobble up your ticket and throw out perfectly valid tickets).

Everytime I've been through, the gates are now manned by 2 people (both on the ticket office side) but with no-one permanently stationed at the unpaid fares counter.

People with tickets that don't go through were having either a normal gate or the new gate opened using (I think) a key.  The old manual gates were shut and not in use.

Is this preparation for leaving the barriers in use 24/7?

Is it not just an attempt to encourage people to go through the automatic gates rather than "automatically" use the manual gates because they are easier. 

I bet staff usually try and open the gate with your ticket before using a key.  I think it is an attempt to train people to use the automatic gates.   

Not unless they're staffed 24/7, which I would guess is somewhat unlikely. The presence of a wide-aisle gate does not in any way change the requirement for barriers to be staffed at all times when in operation.

There is only one side gate and that is used by retail unit staff going towards platform 4/2 to access stores and delivery bays. There is no manned side gate as the original poster suggests.

the side gate is opened every morning nearly as the current amount of gates cannot cope with the amount of passengers in rush hour! I don;t know why they didn't add more gates in its ridiculous. I have seen crushs, people pushing on the stairs etc

I agree the number of gates is completely inadequate at BRI and there is plenty of space for more. 

No point in saying there are only delays at rush hour because that is the time of day when delays effectteh greatest numbe of people

An example of where gating has been done badly. 

Note that the OP said "the old manual style gates". They most certainly were two, one at each end of the gateline - haven't been to BRI for a few months so I don't know if they're still there. But they definitely were, unless it was a figment of my imagination all those times I the staffed gate on the left-hand side of the gateline as you look towards the platforms from the booking hall. I never saw the one at the opposite end (south, I suppose) staffed, but it was left pinned open when the barriers were not in use.

Yes, that was what I meant.  These two gates are still there, but not in use.

I think someone at FGW towers has figured out that a lot of revenue was being lost through the barriers at Temple Meads.  They now appear to be manned everytime I pass through - even Sunday evenings.  The people manning the gate don't leave any of them wide open without someone stood there checking tickets.  They are now also supervised by two people who wear bright coloured jackets (yellow and orange).  Not sure if these are Revenue Protection trained.  Excess fares desk was unmanned so I assume one of the gateline staff will sell tickets, if required.

Apologies I didn't reply back to this thread sooner.  I've been quite busy recently and lost track of it ::) ;D

Yes they are - I used them last week

I need to keep my tickets as a receipt so always use manual gates

Hmm.  While the situation on the gateline at BRI has certainly improved (that is, the whole gateline is not 'locked open' for hours on end any more! :o), I still have some issues with the quality of the manual checking of tickets.

While I have a perfectly valid FGW ticket, permitting me to exit through BRI, it doesn't work through the machines on the barriers - so I show it to the staff operating the gateline.  The problem is, they generally don't even look at what I'm offering up for inspection: they simply feed their own gateline pass through the machine, time after time, until the queue at their particular 'seek assistance' gate has been processed.

CfN.  ::)