Why London buses are so empty: it’s the ticket machines
An intersting examination over at Tom Coates’s flickr account of why London bus stop ticket machines are a usability nightmare. Rather neat stuff with the explanations that appear when you mouse over various areas of the picture. Plus the explanation of how tramps turn used chewing gum into money. It’s either modern alchemy or a scam, depending on your viewpoint; but bear in mind Tom’s recommendation: before you put real money in one of these machines, put in something of no great value like a 1p or 2p coin. You’ll find it makes sense.
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October 11th, 2004 at 12:46 pm
One of the basic problems is that these aren’t bus ticket machines. They’re Pay And Display parking ticket machines, designed (not very well in the first place) to do a thoroughly different job and modified on the cheap.
There’s no right way to do this particular job, other than having a conductor on the bus, and I’ve found myself confused at various points on a wide number of pay before travel metro systems around the world. The London scheme, however, is particularly poor.