Hyderabad: Ticket vending machines (TVMs) have been lying dysfunctional at most of the Metro stations in the city. Passengers claimed that while they could recharge their smart cards with debit or credit cards, the vending machines weren’t even delivering tokens or tickets for the journey.
Besides, vending machines also do not accept coins. Interestingly, the HMR authorities are clueless of this issue. The TVMs installed at stations are supposed to recharge the Metro Nebula Cards through debit and credit cards and deliver metro tokens for travel. However, this facility is not available at all 24 Metro stations. This is forcing commuters to stand in queues at ticket counters at stations.
Metro tickets are of two types — Contactless Smart Card (CSC) and Contactless Smart Token. Passengers can buy tokens at the counters at Metro stations or from automatic vending machines similar to those being used at railway stations.
B. Damodhar, a 28-year-old employee working in Kukatpally, said he is forced to stand in a queue at the ticket counter for a token to travel to his office from Hubsiguda Metro station. He claimed that the TVMs have not been accepting credit or debit cards right from their inception. “During the festival season, it is convenient to get a token from the ticket counter since there are short queues, but during working days getting it takes at least half-an-hour.”
Echoing his concern, A. Shalini, 34, who takes the Metro from Begumpet to Uppal on regular basis said that the TVMs were not accepting coins. And while the vending machines do accept currency notes, they sometimes reject notes of higher denominations due to non-availability of change.
HMR staff claimed that commuters can recharge smart cards at ticket counters and even obtain any amount of change from there, and admitted TVMs have been dysfunctional since their inception.
Hyderabad Metro Rail MD N.V.S Reddy said that the issue had not been brought to his notice till now. Mr Reddy said that he would resolve the issue at the earliest.
Meanwhile, tokens can be bought for a single trip between two stations or for a complete ride on a corridor and even a return trip. Likewise, smart cards are stored as value cards just like a mobile prepaid card. Passengers can use either of the options with ease at the Metro stations. After purchasing the tokens or smart cards, passengers will have to head towards the automatic entry gates and present the same to the contactless scanner or reader located on the automatic gate.
If the tokens are valid or the smart card has sufficient balance, the gates will automatically open and permit the passenger to pass through. These gates divide the station area into ‘Paid’ and ‘Unpaid’ areas.
