DISQUS

AttentionMax: New York MTA’s New MetroCard Fare: Sneaky & Questionable

  • Stephen Tompkins · 1 year ago
    I am not surprised they did this it seems about right.

    Also, you forgot what ambassadors of good will the subway attendant is and how they will be happy to transfer the balance. As long as you don't wake them for one of the many naps they seem to take whilst working.
  • Max Kalehoff · 1 year ago
    Thanks for the comment, Stephen. You're right. I forgot to mention subway-attendant napping as one of the barriers to having credit transferred from one MetroCard to another. Cheers.
  • steve · 1 year ago
    In the movie office space disgruntled employees write a get rich quick program that syphons off fractions of a cent from every transaction.
    Is this any different?
    How many millions of dollars will mta make in all those useless balances which are fractions of the fare.
    We are a sorry bunch of suckers.
  • chargr · 1 year ago
    the attendant i spoke to today was sleeping with his eyes open. He didn't even know how to assist me with reporting a problem with the card. what a knucklehead. MTA you should be receiving a self address envelope to you guys with the details of my issue. FIX IT
  • Chucho · 1 year ago
    I'm not friend of the transit system, but remember one very important thing about the money in question:

    The money in question is a BONUS/PERK provided by the MTA and is NOT your personal hard earned cash. As such, the MTA reserves the right to, so to speak, keep it. But there's really nothing to keep. This was really an expense to them. As such, they did this so, technically, they don't lose revenue on free rides and they can earn the little bit of money they would have lost from those people who don't know any better or are too bothered to go through their hurdles to get it.

    V.
  • maxkalehoff · 1 year ago
    Chucho,
    You're wrong. It's not expense to them, it's a pricing game, and it's an
    expense to us. The MTA is a public agency, not a private business, and
    should be held to higher standards of accountability.
    Max
  • Josh · 5 months ago
    How about the balance of your metro card mysteriously decreasing while the card is in your pocket. This has happened to me twice already where I made sure I had enough fare on the card for round trip travel for my wife and myself. When we swipe our card on our initial trip, it indicates we have plenty of money for the return. When we go to return, somehow the balance is less than one fare. Coincidence? I think not.
  • maxkalehoff · 5 months ago
    I believe it.
  • AK · 4 months ago
    That's my problem also, now I have stacked 3 metrocards with $1.