Tube ticket machines get software upgrade

The language upgrade will faciliate ticket purchasing for more customers

Transport for London (TfL) has upgraded the software on London Underground (LU) touch-screen ticket machines to widen the choice of languages available.

The machines will now cater for speakers of Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Polish, Punjabi, Tamil and Turkish, in addition to the previous choice of English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

According to LU, the service will enable more people to travel with confidence.

“Although many of our staff speak foreign languages, we have increased language translations on our ticket machines to make it easier and quicker for tourists and those from London's diverse communities whose first language isn't English to travel on the Tube,” said London Underground’s accessibility and inclusion manager Wayne Trevor.

Increasing the number of language translations in ticket machines is important both from a tourism and social inclusion perspective, said Jane Collis, director of the Regional Language Network (RLN).

“We know from our work with London Underground that it's important for information to be available in a wide range of languages for international visitors - and for many London residents too,” said Collis.

“As we look ahead to the 2012 Games, RLN London is delighted to see LU taking the initiative to make sure that it is easy for people to use and understand their network.”