Comments on: Train ticket machines — UK vs. Germany (Part 1)

By: Keith Mansfield

Keith Mansfield — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:14:44 +0000

The biggest problem with UK machines that you’ve not mentioned here is if you buy a ticket in advance on the web, to be collected from the machine. While it should be a case of a handful of clicks once you’ve told it you’re collecting not purchasing and have inserted your credit card, it’s actually about 15-20 clicks (I’ll count next time!) including having to type in a long alphanumeric code via a difficult to use interface. There must be a better way and I have to say almost anyone with quarter of a brain could probably find one.

Good to see someone blogging on usability.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:05:04 +0000

You should come to Austria one day, we have very nice Ticket Machines here, and as far as I know, the price structure is simple as well, there is only one price, depending on where you want to go, it doesn’t matter what time and what kind of train.

By: Raphael

Raphael — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:56:42 +0000

Heheh, you’re not the first to notice. Although for me it’s the other way around - when in London for vacation: bliss. Although it has to be said that Berlin has very nice ticket machines (the BVG ones, not the DB ones obviously). Actually I think the DB ones are running Windows, so no surprise there :-) - seriously, any kid could design a better interface. My guess is whoever built it had to fulfill a functional specification and didn’t care genuinely about their work because they were contractors of a contractor.

By: Dean

Dean — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:02:43 +0000

It’s not unusual for British residents to be confused by the varying price structure on the trains, let alone non-locals.

By: Murray Cumming

Murray Cumming — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:22:44 +0000

I hate those Deutsche Bahn machines. Some many clicks and so many questions. It’s like installing a Windows program.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:33:27 +0000

Hi Stan, I do have photos but I’ve been very busy over the last few weeks, so I’ve not got round to putting them here yet. Hopefully they should appear in this blog within the next few days. Sorry for the delay!

By: Stan

Stan — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:09:07 +0000

Hi, I traveled to Germany in June with my friend. I had problem using the train ticket machine (at Dreston station). But my friend was a quicker learner, and he quickly did it and helped me. However, I liked the appearance of the machine. Are there any pictures of the machine on the web?