Nearly all interviewees had a bank account, and the control group all reported using an ATM regularly and most within the previous week. However of the elderly sample, half never used an ATM and only 38% had used one in the last week. The control group knew significantly more functions available on an ATM than did the elderly and visually disabled groups. None of the control group experienced significant difficulty in using an ATM, in comparison to 86% of the visually disabled, 54% of the lower limb motor disabled and 40% of the upper limb motor disabled.

The visually disabled respondents preferred ATMs outside to inside a bank; this may be because inside a bank there are more likely to be queues which create problems if one cannot see where to join the queue. Another reason may be physical barriers near the ATM which cause problems for visually disabled persons.

Problems with ATMs

The elderly group expressed a desire that the keys should be lighter to operate, the screen should be easier to read and the text should be lined up with the buttons at the side of the screen. In addition they were very concerned about security and would prefer ATMs in a bank lobby rather than in the street. The visually disabled group would prefer a default service from the ATM (eg a preset amount of cash for a single key-press), large character display options with reduced reflections from extraneous light, better quality print on printouts, raised or indented keys, good quality speech output (possibly through an earpiece for privacy), notch on card for orientation, and a standard order of operations and feedback from the ATM. In addition there was a requirement for a system to help locate the ATM. The motor disabled group were very concerned with access to ATMıs from a wheelchair, but would also like the option of larger characters on the screen, large raised buttons, clear feedback after key-press, and better security.

Cost and number of users for various interfaces on ATMs

1. This is the additional cost, if incorporated at the time of manufacturing the terminal, as a percentage of the cost of a typical ATM. Modifications which just involve changes to the software could be retrofitted to some ATMs.

2. This is the essential number of potential users (per thousand) of this feature on an ATM.

3. There would be a modest cost to modify the software, but no hardware modifications are necessary.

4. Assuming that there is a suitable screen (eg VGA), there would be a relatively small cost to modify the software, but no hardware modifications are needed. However enlarged text may involve using more screen pages which would increase the cost of modifying the software.

5. Assuming that there is a suitable colour screen, there would be a modest cost to modify the software, but no hardware modifications are needed.

6. This could be stored digitally on a chip and output on a loudspeaker with the volume being dependent on the ambient noise level.

7. This would exclude the PIN, but include information such as the customerıs balance. Some users would prefer to use an earpiece instead of a loudspeaker which could be overhead.

8. Assuming that there is a suitable screen, there would be a cost to modify the software, but no hardware modifications are needed.

9. This would require a contactless smart card operating at a distance of up to 10 cm. If this replaced the conventional magnetic stripe reader, then the cost of the hardware and maintenance would be less than the magnetic stripe reader.

10. This would require a contactless smart card which could operate at a distance of at least five metres which would necessitate an extra circuit and aerial on the card.

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