New Delhi: Along with the ambitious expansion of its network, the Delhi Metro is transcending towards automation and reducing the human interface. A step in this direction is doing away the token counters at the Metro stations and installation of the token vending machines in a phased manner.
Till now 496 token vending machines have been installed at various metro stations and token sale counters (token office machines) have been closed down at 70 Metro stations.
Last year, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had reduced the number of operators to run the ticket office machines and selling token via the vending machines, but the experiment was not successful as most of these vending machines used to be out of order. This did not deter the Metro authorities, and they decided to launch the project on a bigger scale in line with the corporation’s efforts towards mechanisation.
Due to the ongoing automation, 70 Metro stations have been made free of the token office machines and their operators, they have been replaced with the ticket vending machines. Selling tickets through a ticket office machine required an operator, and to save costs, Delhi Metro opted to replace these machines with the ticket vending machines for the passengers at various Metro stations.
Although with the installation of the token vending machines, the Metro authorities are able to save lakhs of rupees per month, the option causes inconvenience to several passengers due to lack of guidance to use these machines.
At many stations, where the vending machines have been installed, the passengers are seen standing in front of the machines, trying hard to get a token dispensed for their commute. The problem occurs especially with outstation passengers. Often at busy times, long queues of commuters can be seen at these machines, many a time the machines do not have enough change to dispense or are out of order.
