Considering the ever-growing number of local train passengers in Mumbai, Central Railway has decided to install a total of 329 ATVMs, among which 148 machines are to be stationed within this month. Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) as it is called, is a direct, easy and faster way to cut off to those old UTS (Unreserved Ticketing System) queues for getting daily and seasonal tickets for Mumbai local trains. Phased out CVM (Coupon Validating Machine) was its previous alternative.
At present 429 ATVM machines have been installed on the suburban railway lines of Central Railway. About 129 of them are old. Of these 60 to 65 machines are non-functional for several reasons. Hence, there will be 300 new machines.
In 2007, the ATVMs which were in use were from Excel company. These machines had technical issues with them as their touchscreens were badly damaged making it difficult for the passengers to use them. But from 2012-13, the Forbes' company's ATVMs have been employed. Retired Railway employees have been appointed on a contract basis by the Railways to provide service to this machine as facilitators. Therefore, those who do not have a smart card can also buy tickets from these machines.
At present, the ticket sale from the ATVMs is 27 percent of the total ticket sales in Central Railway. The average ticket sale for the counter is 54 percent. The public ticket booking service (JTBS) is 18 per cent of the total ticket purchasers who collect one rupee per ticket. Only 5.4 per cent of the tickets are sold online.
A total of 69 Coin Ticket Vending Machines have been installed on the suburban line of Central Railway, with 4 machines each at Thane and Kalyan and three machines each at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar, and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.
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