No new coins if you want platform tickets

The vending machine dispensing platform tickets at the city railway station is slowly falling into disuse, since it accepts only old coins.

The manual ticket counter is functional again at the city railway station, as the e-ticket machines for platform tickets take in only old-five rupee coins, which are not being minted anymore. Passengers have started depending more on the manual ticket counters as majority of them have only new-five rupee coins.

This has led to a drastic drop in the printing of tickets by the machines to one or maximum two tickets a week.

Pic:author

Hariharan Narayanan, who had come to drop his wife at the railway station said: "The city railway station has e-kiosk to dispense platform tickets. It accepts only old-five rupee coins. What is the use of such a machine?"

People often do not have change, especially when there is a constraint that only old-five rupee coins are accepted. With manual dispensing of platform tickets, congestion is back.

The machines were upgraded last after the budget session of 2012, much after the new-five rupee coins were introduced. C Narendra, Publicity Inspector of Railways, Bangalore says, "The machine is customized in such a way that it accepts only the size of old five rupee coins. The new five rupee coins are smaller and thinner and this is not acceptable by the e-kiosk machines". He said they are aware of the problem and are trying their best to fix it soon.

The machines were first introduced in 2007, when the cost of the platform tickets was Rs 3 per ticket. Post the budget session 2012, the machines were updated as the cost of the tickets was increased to Rs 5 per ticket. At that time, the machines were programmed to accept old-five rupee coins, which is not being minted anymore by the RBI.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Residents protest high charges for name change in Tambaram property tax records

The revised fees for name change in the property tax documents were not widely publicised by the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation.

In August/September this year, Chennai resident Rajiv attempted to update his name in the property tax records of his flat in Chromepet. The Tambaram City Municipal Corporation (TCMC) rejected his online application and asked him to file the papers offline. He was also told to pay Rs10,000 towards the charges for a name change. Finding this amount excessive, he brought the issue to the attention of the press. A local reporter investigated the matter and contacted the TCMC Commissioner, who allegedly disputed the high fees at first. However, after consulting officials, he later confirmed that such a fee is mandatory, per…

Similar Story

Long term reforms needed for Mumbai and the state: Praja manifesto

Praja Foundation's manifesto for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra is in alignment with sustainable development goals.

Praja, the NGO which works to ensure government accountability, has released a target based manifesto for reforms in Maharashtra for the upcoming assembly elections. The manifesto is designed to empower local governments as they are best placed  to understand and resolve local urban issues. It outlines four major urban governance reforms, each with clearly identified goals, issues and targets which are in alignment with the sustainable development goals. Urban governance reforms Empowered City Elected Representatives and Legislative Structure: Empowered governance leads to effective governance. This requires urgent measures like timely and regular municipal elections and training for councillors. Service delivery: Devolution…