On average in Boston, over 1 million people ride the T or subway system every month . The people riding the train do so for a variety of reason from tourism to going to work. For all of its riders the T serves a very different use-case. However, no matter the reason an individual may decide to ride the T, all T rider have had to interact the T automated ticketing machines found in each station.

These machines allow passengers to purchase tickets for the train, add money to an existing ticket or similarly refill a Charlie Card, a reusable T Card with an RFID chip inside for ease of use. The ticket machine found in Boston T stations have often been in use for an extended period of time, as the Boston T system is one of the oldest subway/elevated train systems in the United States. Many of these machines are therefore out-dated or have many features that can be improved or optimized.

This case study will seek to analyze the functionality of these machine and its most important or common uses. It will then look at many common issue with the device and how they can potentially be improved.