Transport ticket machines around Berlin have stopped accepting cash payments due to a ‘technical malfunction’, but city officials suggest it’s time to retire the machines altogether.
Making a habit of keeping some cash on hand for the döner kebap shops, bars and other businesses that don’t accept card payments has long been part of adapting to life in Germany.
But, increasingly, there are also cases where you may have the opposite problem.
The most recent example is seen at the vending machines for transport tickets in Berlin, which have suddenly stopped accepting cash payments.
According to a report by Tagesspiegel, Berlin’s municipal transport company (BVG) is working on fixing the issue but has not set a date for when it will be resolved. Meanwhile, city officials have spoken out in support of abolishing the machines altogether.
Last week notices appeared on BVG transport ticket vending machines across Berlin, saying: “At the moment, it is not possible to accept banknotes here.”
On Thursday a BVG spokeswoman confirmed to Tagesspiegel that, “Payment with banknotes is currently not possible at our ticket machines due to a technical malfunction.”
They added that they are working on fixing the issue, but did not provide a date.
According to the BVG, all machines in U-bahn stations and some of those at bus stops are affected. The machines in the city’s trams, which accept coins, are still working.
The majority of transport passengers in Berlin – who hold monthly travel passes like the Deutschlandticket or buy tickets with a mobile app – would not be affected, which raises the question, ‘how useful are ticket vending machines really?’
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‘Nobody needs them’
Berlin’s railway boss, Alexander Kaczmarek, suggests that the city should consider getting rid of its transport ticket machines entirely.
He has criticised the high operational costs of maintaining the machines, along with Transport Senator Ute Bonde.
“Away with them. Nobody needs them anymore,” Kaczmarek had said about the machines on a televised discussion on RBB.
Operational costs and repairs for the machines apparently makes them a money sink. Kaczmarek has said that “a relatively large amount of money” is spent on their upkeep. Whereas the money they bring in is increasingly small.
But the question remains where passengers who don’t carry a smartphone could then buy the tickets they need to ride the city’s trains or buses.
For tourists in Berlin, who don’t hold monthly travel passes and often aren’t familiar with the mobile apps needed to buy a ticket, finding a vending machine to buy a single- or multi-journey ticket can already be a frustrating experience: they are not always easy to find, or functioning.
READ ALSO: Is Germany planning to decriminalise fare-dodging?
The abolition of the machines would make it virtually impossible for passengers who do not want to use a smartphone to buy tickets.
The Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB) is against the abolition of the vending machines for this reason. A VBB spokesperson called them a “low-threshold offer for people who cannot or do not want to use a smartphone.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
