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With intuitive usability fast becoming a priority in many new designs, its surprising that a fresh round of public transport ticket machines would point to more antiquated systems rather than forward-thinking ones. Peter Krantz reports and rants about Stockholm's un-user-friendly ticket vending machines with a play-by-play explanation of seemingly infuriating and illogical interactions that just may "persuade" you to hail a taxi.
...People are finding them difficult to use and apparently there are very few tickets sold. On top of that they look like the machines seen in parking lots. Oh wait, they are apparently from the same manufacturer.Stockholm public transport has a tradition of being late to the 21st century. Pre-paid tickets are still paper based and stamped by the bus driver. Previously you could buy them directly from the bus driver. However, robbery prompted the public transport authorities to remove all cash handling from the bus drivers, hence the increased need for outdoor ticket vending machines.
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Comments
Reminded me of this photo my dad took in Germany:
http://tinyurl.com/2synha
[flickr)
I don't speak German but it looks super confusing
After living in Asia for almost a year where RFID based Pay-As-You-Go cards are used (EZCard, Octopus, Suica and Oyster) I hate returning to cities with paper based tickets (either transport or other public services). Although the recharging stations are equally disdainful as this particular machine.
I recognized the ticket machine design from Adelaide, Australia for dispensing the city council's car parking tickets and also think it's one of the worst designed units from a user's perspective.
I think you'll find Melbourne, Australia has the worst ticket machines around. Eg. when trying to use the Tram based machines they have maximum limit of coins that is less than that required for most adult day tickets!
Bring on the RFID cards...
this is still better than most systems here in the states...we have the most inconvenient, unreliable and expensive public transit in america here in philly. hey, at least we're number one in something else besides obesity!
They are just as bad in Gothenburg... We're supposed to be good at design and cognitive ergonomics here! Maybe that's because we get so much training - everything is confusing. On the other hand we have a lot of signs. So you won't have to ask strangers - that's scary stuff! Anyway, bad design makes me angry. All you have to do is to THINK FIRST!