Nellore: The railways' installation of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) to reduce the burden on ticket counters has not had the desired effect. The machines are not being used as much as they should be due to lack of publicity for them, with serpentine queues continuing to form at ticket counters.
The ATVMs ought to come as a boon, especially during the summer holiday season, for both travellers and railway staff, trimming the waiting time for one and the workload for the other, but there is hardly anyone using them, including the Coin Operated Ticket Vending Machines (COTVM).
Railway sources say that not enough smart cards are being issued to buy tickets from the vending machines. One has to pay Rs 50 as deposit (refundable) for the smart card and a onetime charge of Rs 20, and it can be re-charged in multiples of Rs 50, the upper limit being Rs 9,500. The card must be recharged at least once a year either at an ATVM or the ticket counters to renew validity.
The advantage to passengers holding a smart card is that they get five per cent commission on the cost of the ticket. However, the card can be used only within South Central Railway limits, a restriction that is keeping commuters away: for instance, those frequenting neighbouring Tamil Nadu cannot use it at Chennai Central.
Thousands of people commute between Nellore and Chennai every day, the ATVMs being of no use to them. As for the COTVMs, the passenger has to drop in the exact fare to collect the train and platform tickets, but unlike the ATVMs, there is no concession here.
COTVMs will also elude the grasp of those with no basic knowledge of computers as they have to select different options on the screen. The Railways have hired a facilitator to operate the ATVMs by offering five per cent commission on the tickets as remuneration.
Railway officials feel that publicity on the how to use ATVM through visual media and cinema theatres will induce people to shift away from counters. They also recommend extension of concession on tickets purchased from COTVMs and incorporation of an audio facility in the machines to give instructions in the preferred language to passengers.
