For individuals living in the industrialized world, the increased variety of transportation options provides a wealth of challenging situations. There are some extremely serious issues such as pollution, traffic congestion, and fuel prices which are typically best left to elected officials to manage. However, for the everyday person, there are many other frustrations in trying to navigate their way around the city. One of the most aggravating is trying to find a place to park. As the production of automobiles decreased their price, more and more people are able to own a vehicle. Along with this, automobiles are also increasing in size. Both of these combined often makes finding a 
parking spot a difficult proposition. As a result of increased need for parking, one of the fastest growing industries is parking lot and parking garage management. While it may be lucrative to own or manage a parking structure or lot, there are certain issues involved with the management. One of the most difficult is ensuring customers pay their parking fee. Any parking lot enterprise must have some way of preventing customers from leaving the premises without paying for their parking. One of the best ways to do this is to install barrier gates with a barrier gate reader from a reputable gate supplier.
Barrier or boom gates are not only found in parking lots and garages. These barrier gates have a variety of uses which include controlling access to drawbridges, securing entrances to controlled facilities, and providing a means of preventing entrance to secure areas. Barrier gates are also used almost exclusively by companies operating toll roads as a means of controlling access and verifying payment of tolls. On older toll roads, barrier gates may still be operated manually by the tollbooth operator. However, today most toll roads are equipped with automatic barrier gates at each toll booth. For an automatic barrier gate to operate properly, it must be equipped with a barrier gate reader. The barrier gate reader automatically scans oncoming vehicles for certain signals, reads programmed cards, or operates by a remote. Some barrier gates, such as those used to control access to a gated neighborhood are controlled by a remote control device. Other barrier gates may be opened by inserting a card containing a magnetic strip. These cards are often tied directly to an account where the user deposits funds to gain access to the area.
Other barrier gate readers are programmed to scan oncoming vehicles for RFID tags. The RFID reader scans for radio frequency identification device and is popular with toll road operators. In fact, the popular “easy pass” toll booths use RFID readers to activate their barrier gates providing drivers an opportunity to continue traveling smoothly and quickly through the toll plazas. When a driver approaches a toll booth which is equipped with an “easy pass” lane, they slow their car down until the barrier gate reader identifies their RFID tag. When this happens, the barrier gate reader automatically opens the gate and allows the car to pass through without having to stop at the toll booth. Using RFID readers and remote control devices are the two most common means of operating a barrier gate. There are other methods of opening the gates, including push buttons and loop detectors, however, these are the two most common means. When it is important to get on the road and keep moving, the easier it is to get through the barrier gates, the better.