I too have helped people through the process at my local station, its just a nice thing to do. However from my observations at this and two other stations I potentially pass through on my way to work, generally speaking I see many people quickly adapting to changes. The key is to try and make the signposting at the initial landing screen as intuitive as possible, although you will never have a system that doesn't leave at least some people confused.
I currently work in developing systems, and associated UIs that many thousands of our staff will use. And whilst testing these to a limited user audience is essential, as is observation & feedback, you will never be able to cover even a fraction of possible scenarios with prescripted tests, you only really get to find out users really interact with systems when they are left to it. Which from was has been said above is what has happened in Northern's case.
In terms of positioning there is a need to consider things like facing the sun, cover etc. However in the case of Northern many stations are pretty sparse, with limited space & options for placing machines without having to spend considerable amounts of money installing additional facilities, infrastructure etc. If the responses from Ian above are anything to judge by, Northern are willing to at least listen & engage on matters like these. And as a member of my local station's 'Friends Of' group, we have seen improvements to what is a very small, one platformed station through this engagement (something I have regularly banged on about on these forums).
As for some of the 'nice to haves' you mention, whilst these might be of some limited benefit to some, things like shelves for coffee cups, hooks for dogs and small children (almost in a way sounds barbaric
) will all add cost to the building & procurement of the devices, as well as potentially maintenance as people knock their coffee over machines, and large dogs spooked by something tear out the hooks (and possibly parts of the casing depending on how they were secured). And as I said, these are really things that the users themselves should be thinking about, as they will likely be interacting with various other interfaces throughout their day. If you have children or a dog travelling with you, at any moment you could be distracted regardless of there being somewhere to attach leads or harnesses. And coffee cups can generally be quickly placed on the ground in front of you.
No, get the UI right first and foremost. This is where the benefits will be best realised by making them as intuitive as possible. I'll be keeping a closer eye on the new version as it has rolled out to machines at the stations I use, and I'll be doubtless using it over the coming weeks.