Chennai Metro Rail to get rid of most ticket vending machines

There are nearly 140 ticket vending machines installed in 41 stations, plans are on cards to remove about 80 machines

After spending several lakhs of rupees on procurement and installation, Chennai Metro Rail plans to do away with majority of the ticket vending machines (TVM) in stations across the phase I and phase I extension projects owing to technical glitches.

There are a total of 41 stations — both underground and elevated — in these two projects and in each station, there are at least 3-4 such machines. These machines were first installed in the phase I project to ensure that commuters do not have to wait in queue to buy a ticket from the operator. Sources said, there are nearly 140 TVMs installed in 41 stations; they plan to remove most of them and retain only about 60 of them.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they stopped using TVMs during the pandemic for safety of commuters; gradually, as normalcy resumed, these machines started functioning.

“We decided to remove most of the machines because of various technical issues. Now, we have smart cards and QR Code tickets. So, we plan to remove them from the stations. Some of them will still be available for recharging the smart cards alone,” an official said.

Ever since the phase I project was inaugurated in 2015, commuters have been facing problems in using the TVMs. Credit or debit cards cannot be used and many currency notes were rejected too. Many commuters have repeatedly flagged this issue on social media too.

“Each machine will cost at least a few lakhs but from the beginning, we have had some issue or the other with TVMs. After the pandemic, a majority of the machines were not functioning. Even now, the ones that operate will only help in recharging the smart cards. We have begun to rely more on the QR code system now apart from the smart cards,” a source said.