Platform Ticket Dispensers

Recently i wrote about the design of the hot water dispensers in offices, which are functional but are not pragmatic. Here's another example of a bad design

After some years, i went to the railway reservation office in central station, chennai to book travel tickets for self and family. I also wanted to see my brother who is employed with southern railways, his work place that day was situated inside the platform, the access to which is normally, either with a valid travel ticket / platform ticket. Since i did not have a valid ticket for that day, i decided to buy a platform ticket, when i approachedd the counter, there was a queue of about 6-7 people, i also saw a little box titled automatic platform ticket issuing machine, the tender for the platform ticket was Rs.3/=. I promptly dropped a two rupee coin and a one rupee coin, then waited for the ticket, ticket did not come, i gently tapped the machine, hoping it would realise its folly and issue a ticket, then saw the display, to my dismay, it showed only Rs.2/, I had to part with another rupee. so here i was paying Rs.4 for a Rs.3/= ticket and because someone had designed the machine that way.

Things that could have been better.

1. The facility could have been designed to take in various rupee tenders into account.
2. In the absence of such design, which would have been known during the design / testing phase, atleast put up a notice of what constitutes a valid tender on the machine.