Pedestrian traffic is an alarming issue in many places, including almost all the metropolitan cities. The number of people that are on the road, or travel by public transport such as subways, the number of people that go to parks are all very high to manually observe and control. However, it might be necessary for the safety of the pedestrians only. That is why, with advancement of technologies, there have been many tools to keep a check on the number of pedestrians entering or exiting premises, the most basic and effective of which is the tripod turnstile.
It all started out with pedestrian gates, which were none-full length gates that were used to control pedestrian traffic. However, with time the design became obsolete and more effective designs were brought into use. The first criteria of modern designs, that the pedestrian gates could not fulfil, was these gates should not be attached to a frame, because on roads or in public parks, it might not be possible to find a frame to which a gate can be attached. That is why, the tripod turnstile gate was invested, and right from its invention, it has been a very valuable addition to the set of equipment that can be used to control pedestrian traffic.
Although the name can be a little confusing for those who are hearing it for the very first time, it is very common pedestrian crossing control equipment that everyone has come across at least once in their lives. It is built on a base, and it has three metal roads, that looks like a tripod, attached to the base. The tripods are positioned parallel to the ground, and it is required to be rotated for the pedestrians to pass. The beauty of this equipment is in the fact that it allows only one person to pass through the gate at a time.
Where are tripod turnstile gates used?
These gates were very useful to control one way traffic, that is, if there are separate entry and exit points then tripod turnstile can be very effective. Some of the places where you might come across these gates include
- Subways
- Parking lots
- Movie theatres
- Parks
And anywhere else where getting a head count of the number of people coming in and out of the facility is very important. A ticketing system can be very easily incorporated with these kinds of gates. There are, however, certain drawbacks to using these kinds of gates. It is not well suited to places where there might be two-way pedestrian traffics, like on roads. Also, some amount of manual supervision is required in case some lawbreaker decides to jump over the gate. Keeping all these in mind, these gates are still one of the simplest, cheapest and most effective pedestrian traffic control device ever.
A tripod turnstile manufacturers can be contacted in case someone wants customizations and personifications to their gates. Other variations of these gates can also be found if one gets in touch with the manufacturers.
