UK: A ticket vending machine which offers a full range of ticketing products though an interface similar to a website or app has been developed by operator East Midlands Railway, software supplier SilverRail and vending machine maker Cammax.
Smart Kiosk uses the SilverCore ticket issuing and journey planning software which SilverRail developed for web and app sales channels. It issues advance and walk-up tickets as a printed barcode instead of a conventional orange magnetic stripe ticket. The machine can also be used to load pre-purchased products onto a smart card, while the sale of smart card products is due to be added later this year.
EMR said the software had been designed to provide the flexibility and pricing that passengers have come to expect from online purchases. ‘Smart Kiosks will support the industry’s ambition for increasing smart ticket take up and reducing ticketless travel by offering more opportunities to purchase tickets and doing so in a smart way’, said Lucy Dean, Head of Commercial Strategy & Transformation.
The first Smart Kiosks have been installed at Derby and Uttoxeter, and 28 more are to be installed by early September.
‘We are all extremely pleased to provide passengers with access to a full range of e-tickets that will allow everyone to access the same fare offers that you can otherwise access online’, said David Pitt, Head of UK Rail at SilverRail. ‘We already have ideas on how we can improve on this and bring even more innovative services to the kiosk.’
