many metro's try to speed up up the ticket control by using smartcards. however the problem with that is that on their own, they do not speed the process up by anything but a mere half-second.
To solve he problem, we could have the people with a smartcard go to a separate lane, where there is a moving sidewalk. then in a the area where one is about to step off, there is a card reader (since the smartcard is contactlessyou don't need to put it in so there's no delay from that) then thereweight sensors, then there is no turnsile, just an open gate. once on the moving sidewalk you just flash your card so that wen you pass the reader it recognises the card, and steps off.
now here is where the wait sensors come in. every time a card is scanned, the weight sensors ignore the next theing they catch, and the gate stays open. otherwise, when the weight sensors detect something, the gate is shut until the sensor does not detect anything, so that people cannot cheat. and also it will stop the moving walkway to prevent accidents-- FireElf, Jul 30 2006 Sorry, but what do you mean by "ticket control"? I think there may be some cultural references missing here.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 31 2006 Since the NY Subway is experimenting with contactless ("blink," etc.) cards, I'll hazard a guess: FireElf simply wants separate lanes for people with those things.
I'm not sure why FireElf wants to use weight (note spelling!) sensors rather than light beams. And I've never seem a moving walkway through turnstiles/entry gates.-- DrCurry, Jul 31 2006 galbinus, i mean when you check the tickets. .
and drcurry, your visualising this all wrong: there are no, turnstiles, just gates which are OPEN by defealt. and the moving sidewalk is so there is no real quwue and what exactly do you mean by "light beams" and thats not to meantion that the exit is after the and so that there are no accidents caused by people who try to cheat. and there are systems that already use smartcards, like the one in warsaw.-- FireElf, Jul 31 2006 Theatre tickets? Movie Tickets? Lottery Tickets? Parking Tickets? What kind of tickets?-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 31 2006 metro tickets.-- FireElf, Jul 31 2006 Yes, I understand that this is taking place in a city. Is this any sort of ticket in a metro area?-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 31 2006 no. you americans don't get it a metro is this thing with the trains underground linking different parts of the city.-- FireElf, Aug 01 2006 [FireElf] Both Washington, D.C. (the US captital) and Los Angeles (the most populated US city) refer to their subway commuter train systems as 'The Metro.' Also, I get the impression that [Galbinus_Caeli] may be British from his spelling of 'theatre' instead of the more American 'theater.' And frankly, I it makes it hard to "get it" when one uses poor grammar, improper spelling, and lacks both appropriate punctuation and letter capitalization.
I think this is a fairly good idea but I do not care for the culture attack and stereotyping. Do I dare ask where you are from?-- The Acrimonious Obfuscator, Aug 01 2006 I agree with [TAO]. This stereotyping is odious. Bloody foreigners are always doing this. Don't know why we let them into our website anyway.-- methinksnot, Aug 01 2006 I am from poland.-- FireElf, Aug 01 2006 //I am from poland//The last time I checked, that only excused public drunkenness, not piss-poor written English and an attitude problem. Sort it out [FireElf]!-- DocBrown, Aug 01 2006 Thank you for the clarification. Your idea could have been more clearly understood if you had included the phrase "mass transit", "light rail", or "train". Our subway in Atlanta uses "tokens" or "passes", never "tickets".
Oh, and those speculating on my nationality, I only speak one language, that should make it more clear. I use "Theatre" because many theatre geeks do.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Aug 01 2006 //Oh, and those speculating on my nationality, I only speak one language, that should make it more clear. I use "Theatre" because many theatre geeks do.//
In the U.S., many people spell as "theatre" the place where actors perform on stage, and "theater" the place where people watch movies.-- supercat, Aug 01 2006 It's an interesting idea, but I don't see any great advantage. The moving sidewalk (or travelator, as I like to call them) has to go at slower than walking pace for safety, and you have to somehow ensure that if you do get a freeloader then (s)he is somehow standing a suitable distance away from everyone else that you can shove a barrier in the way without hurting anyone. So, I don't see it as any faster than the normal setup.
Frankly, a lot of thought goes into such prosaic problems, and I have no doubt that travelator options have been considered by serious-minded engineers whose job it is to do that sort of stuff. Find something more outlandish to entertain us with, [FireElf]!-- moomintroll, Aug 01 2006 How do these passes get scanned without physical contact with the scanner?
Do they use RFID? I hear we can't use RFID. The halfbakery has voted that RFID is magic.
However, I've discovered that you CAN use divine intervention. So you could have a priest bless all the tickets, and pass the travellator through an incinerator. The people with tickets pass by unharmed, those who don't have their tickets are very badly burned, but still alive, so if someone up there could call for an ambulance please, there's a back door...
I'd feel a little more confidant with the RFID myself though.-- ye_river_xiv, Aug 02 2006 Given the efforts the MTA has gone to stop fare dodgers (whose previous stratagem was to simply run up to turnstiles and leap them), I'm thinking open gates will be a non-starter here.-- DrCurry, Aug 02 2006 yes, it uses RFID-- FireElf, Aug 02 2006 And RFID works very well, at short range. Up to about a meter for most applications. Which is plenty for identifying stuff or people passing by on a sidewalk.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Aug 02 2006 The "honour system" has been working perfectly well for decades in many cities (Berlin, Vienna, and Los Angeles to name a few).
I never understood why metro systems elsewhere (London, Paris, New York) feel the need to put up those horrible barriers, when a simpler, cheaper, faster, and more civilized alternative exists. Just the other day I saw an elderly lady screaming in agony on the London Underground after she had been trapped in a barrier that closed too fast.
Sure, a small number of people will always ride for free on the honour system, but with regular controls and heavy fines this number can be kept below 1%. The losses incurred by the freeriders are smaller than the cost of setting up and maintaining millions of barriers.
Any idea that involves not only keeping keeping the barriers, but adding even more unnecessary complexity, will therefore get a fishbone from me.-- kinemojo, Sep 01 2007 random, halfbakery