Season ticket/member card shambles

[WoodleyRoyal]

So arrived at the gate 8 ten minutes before kick off, put my season ticket in the reader at the turnstiles, red light comes on can't get through.(same card had worked at all games so far this season) steward pointed to a queue with about 25 people in an said you need to speak to the customer service woman. Joined the back of the queue and watched a steady stream of fans have the same issue, the poor woman just couldn't cope eventually another woman turned up, took my card away and let me through I now have to go to the ticket office on Tuesday before the game to get a new one. Got stopped at the entrance to y24 to show my ticket which I didn't now have, he wouldn't let me through, had to wait until the customer service lady came through to confirm my storey, ended up missing the first 7 mins of the game. Shambles

[Norfolk Royal]

That's appalling. I had the same problem with my e-ticket at the Royal Norfolk Show this year.

[melonhead]

i also had an issue with mine this week
i paid for mine using zebra finance.apparently though no payments have been made.
no one bothered calling to try and sort it out though


they let me in this week, but i dont think i'll get in on tuesday

on the plus side thats three games ive got to see for free for me +1
might just cancel it now, and take the 100+ quid ive got away with

[Elazarus]

Yeah my friend has also had problems with her member card for the two games she went to: Huddersfield and Fulhum. Card was taken from her and she's going to get a new member card next time she goes to the box office.

Bit of an annoyance to say the least.

[semtex1871]

This wouldn't happen in hospitality etc etc

[AbovetheI]

This wouldn't happen in hospitality etc etc

It doesn't

[handbags_harris]

Had this issue on the opening day, the chip had gone in the card. I was given a little slip of paper with a reference number on it, had no issues getting through the ticket check into Y25 though, just flashed the paper, , said what had happened to my card (the chap had also taken it from me), quoted my seat number and went on in. Think it depends on the steward to be honest, maybe worth an email to the club to ask to have a consistent system in place.

[Royal Biscuitman]

It shouldn't happen but at the same time, the club should have a plan in place if it does.... What happens if the electronic system crashes before the game? - I imagine there will be a delayed kick off as 18,000 fans queue up to see one ticket lady.

[Nameless]

It shouldn't happen but at the same time, the club should have a plan in place if it does.... What happens if the electronic system crashes before the game? - I imagine there will be a delayed kick off as 18,000 fans queue up to see one ticket lady.

There is a plan, although obviously if everyone had a card with a dodgy chip, or the central database got corrupted it would be chaos.

18,000 wouldn't have to see one person as there are staff at each gate. The whole system can't crash as data is held at each gate, not on a central server.

[EPR2.0]

18,000 wouldn't have to see one person as there are staff at each gate. The whole system can't crash as data is held at each gate, not on a central server.

It's better than that - I'm pretty sure each turnstile is autonomous and can work offline once loaded with event data.

When Fortress was first installed I initially wondered why each gate had a computer per turnstile (the blue boxes up on the wall) thinking that it was massively over-engineered; then it occurred to me, that the last thing you want when trying to ingress 24,000 people into a stadium is for an entire gate (or more) to go down just because of a single point of failure.

[Nameless]

18,000 wouldn't have to see one person as there are staff at each gate. The whole system can't crash as data is held at each gate, not on a central server.

It's better than that - I'm pretty sure each turnstile is autonomous and can work offline once loaded with event data.

When Fortress was first installed I initially wondered why each gate had a computer per turnstile (the blue boxes up on the wall) thinking that it was massively over-engineered; then it occurred to me, that the last thing you want when trying to ingress 24,000 people into a stadium is for an entire gate (or more) to go down just because of a single point of failure.

Pretty certain it's per gate not per turnstile, and that is a change from when the system was first installed . Originally the server at the gate had to refer back to the central database for every query whereas now there is a copy held locally at each gate making it quicker and more resilient. Every gate is one of a pair so if say gate 7 went down they could use gate 8 for everyone, or go to a visual check at the turnstiles which wouldn't be 100% but ok as an emergency.

[moo]

Are you guys seriously talking about this? Lul

[WoodleyRoyal]

I'm finding it thoroughly interesting moo, this sort of stuff is rarely talked about, although there may be a reason for that

[Nameless]

Are you guys seriously talking about this? Lul

I think the laugh is on you, after all you are reading it !

[Royal Biscuitman]

It's better than that - I'm pretty sure each turnstile is autonomous and can work offline once loaded with event data

Must be every gate not turn style otherwise what's to stop someone with a ticket for gate 4 using it on the left turn-style and passing it though to a mate to use on the right turn style, either that or they are linked but capable of working alone if one goes down.

Actually, they must all be linked so that attendance can be calculated and monitored, but as suggested above, capable of going it alone in the event of the network crashing

[EPR2.0]

It's better than that - I'm pretty sure each turnstile is autonomous and can work offline once loaded with event data

Must be every gate not turn style otherwise what's to stop someone with a ticket for gate 4 using it on the left turn-style and passing it though to a mate to use on the right turn style, either that or they are linked but capable of working alone if one goes down.

Actually, they must all be linked so that attendance can be calculated and monitored, but as suggested above, capable of going it alone in the event of the network crashing

If an entire gate goes autonomous you still lose pass-back protection because of the "pairing" nature of the higher level redundancy. Individual turnstiles of an "offline" gate can still prevent pass-back over the gate's own [very] local area network as they probably do in normal operation, on which basis I would have thought it would make sense for a single build where each turnstyle computer is identical and holds the entire event data for that gate - I don't see the point in having a separate server per gate (or designating one of the turnstyle's computer as a local server) as you're back to a single point of failure per gate.

[Z175]

Not sure this one will get a sticky for posterity! Mods please mark this "Please read before using a smart card"?!

In fairness we have had so many "accountant geek" threads on the complexities of the financial situation, it is great to see some tech people let us know about the literal inner workings of the club!

Sums up the employment opportunities in the Thames Valley mind you...

[Green]

Indeed. You reap what you sow I guess Z175ers.

[tmesis]

Originally the server at the gate had to refer back to the central database for every query whereas now there is a copy held locally at each gate making it quicker and more resilient.

What kind of server were we using that would struggle with 20,000 checks in two hours?

[Ian Royal]

Originally the server at the gate had to refer back to the central database for every query whereas now there is a copy held locally at each gate making it quicker and more resilient.

What kind of server were we using that would struggle with 20,000 checks in two hours?

Are you actually trying to suggest that the flow of people through the turnstiles is 20,000 spread even remotely evenly over 2 hours?