Inconvenience of only one ATM

By Valentina Pang

Students and staff queue up in front of the ATM

Two out of three Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) provided by Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) and Bank of China (BC) were moved out from the International Library and Block I of University of Macau (UM). This has made it very inconvenient for all UM students and staff to get cash with only one ATM located on campus.

The ATM located in the International Library of UM was moved out since 2003 and the other one, located in Block I was removed a few months ago. Students and staff who want to get money have to queue up in front of the only ATM located opposite to the Ho-Ying Building. A long queuing line at the ATM is a common scene during lunch time or between classes. "I am hurry to class so I have to give up lining," said Maggie Cheung, a Year 3 UM student.

There are other inconvenience due to the lack of ATM in UM. "It's a long way to get to the ATM since all my classes are in the International Library and in TP classrooms. Besides, the ATM is always out of money," said Cheung. Donald Lai, a 4th-Year UM student feels the same, "Although there are various services provided by ATM, I cannot always get patacas from it." Aside from money withdrawal from ATM, it also provides other services for all UM students and staff, such as cash deposit, cash transactions for paying credit card bills etc.

The invention of ATM is to bring convenience to life, but UM students and staff can not enjoy the convenience with only one ATM. According to the Student Office (SO) of UM, the removal of the two other ATMs is the policies of the respective banks of BNU and BC, and the University has no say about it. Both banks were contacted by this reporter, but they have provided no comment so far.