[Sigia-l] NYC Metrocard Vending Machines

[Peter Merholz]

Don't confuse the MetroCard with the MetroCard Vending Machine.

The issues that the Village Voice article raises are with the MetroCard and
the company behind it (Cubic), and the software necessary to manage the
various transactions, etc. etc. Namely, the technology of the card itself.

The design of the MetroCard Vending Machine was done by Antenna Design, a
leading industrial design company in Manhattan.
http://www.antennadesign.com/
(As designers, their site is less than usable, built in flash, and has no
bookmarks. To find the MVM, click "transit" in the navigation.)

Read more about them:
http://www.edesignmag.com/efeat/feat_march/ef_2.htm

--peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hooman Anvar" <hooman.anvar at usa.net>
To: <sigia-l at asis.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 11:13 AM
Subject: [Sigia-l] NYC Metrocard Vending Machines


Recently I visited New York City and used the Metrocard Vending Machines for
the first time. I live in San Francisco, so I use BART and MUNI public
transport. The vending machines are outdated, confusing, and slow. In
comparison I found the Metrocard Vending Machines easy to use, fairly
intuitive, and quick to the point. The animations and clear graphics allowed
me to follow the process quickly and without hesitation. It took quick
self-made tour for me to understand the policies that are built into the
ticketing system. I quickly figured out what the difference between the
various passes was and made my decision as to which pass i'd buy. Maybe it
was
easy for me because i'm an experienced web user, and I've also been subject
to
heinous vending machines in the past.

In comparison to all other vending machines of this nature, I was impressed,
even excited to see that someone finally put thought behind a public transit
vending machine that didn't make me jump through hoops and quickly gave me a
ticket.

The machines were developed by Cubic Transportation Systems and apparently
there is some controversey around the hiring of a VP. Hmmm, reading through
their web site, they also have a contract with BART. I wonder if they're
also
responsible for the poor BART interface.

Here are some interesting links about the subject:

http://www.quuxuum.org/~joekor/mcvend3.gif
http://solo18.abac.com/railride/d-oh-tee/mvm.htm
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0041/friedman.php
http://www.georgecarrano.com/ays0798.htm
http://www.cubic.com/cts/index.html

Lars Pind doesn't like them.
http://www.pinds.com/ui-rants/metrocard

Cheers,
Hooman

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