[Sigia-l] NYC Metrocard Vending Machines

[Hooman Anvar]

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 The vending machines are outdated, confusing, and slow.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