Using Cellphones to Pay Your Subway Fare

gotta love that MTA, improving ways to pay before improving the system so it doesn't implode everytime it rains too much or there is an "earlier incident".

I used the system a couple of times because they were for free rides (all last week for example) and for a couple of times when i forgot my metro card. worked fine. Usually get my metrocards via mail from payroll deduction so not really something i use every day (pretax dollars) but worked fine. you take the think that lives on your keyring (looks like a blue flash drive) and put it up to the star thing and you hear a beep. thats it. Refills, prepayments etc are done online

Citibank is probably subsidizing this trial, not something it would be inclined to do when it came to preventing an "implosion" of the system.

Just as the Metrocards negated the need for tokens, this trial (if successful) will negate the need for Metrocards. Why is that bad?

I got one of the blue fobs from Citicard--along with copious promotional materials about the subway use--but I haven't used the fobs or the subway promotion. I haven't used the fob 'cause my key ring is already fat enough (and don't they have GPS devices in them? that creeps me out). I haven't used the subway option because I use an unlimited card and there is no such discount through the Citibank payment.

That said, I'm all for contactless payment. A six-month stint watching such a system move Washington, DC, commuters pretty speedily has me convinced.

They've been using this for some time in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Get with the program...

The funny thing is that MTA reps visited Tokyo not too long ago to exchange ideas with their counterparts in the Tokyo Subway about these types of systems. The Suica card works like a charm there, same goes with the Octopus Card in HK.

I guess when you add technology with ideas from the MTA, you get a half-baked half-assed system that doesn’t work too well.

You Hermit

Its 2006! We need to do things faster better and more efficient then we did before!

Not to mention the smartcard system would work a lot better then the ones we have now, and will be able to move more people throughout the system with less delays and bottlenecks at the turnstiles.

Not to mention the smartcard system would work a lot better then the ones we have now, and will be able to move more people throughout the system with less delays and bottlenecks at the turnstiles.

I'll believe it when I see it. In the old days people didn't stand there reswiping their tokens. And now you have the idiots behind you that swipe their Metrocard before you even turn the turnstile thus invalidating your fare.

The machines very often fail to read debit/credit cards; and in some stations, they fail to work at all

And you don't think the new technology will fail?

creating excruciating long lines at the token booth

Where would rather have the line, at the token booth or blocking all of the turnstiles?

(which are supposedly obsolete, no?)

Not according to the Transit Union who will fight to keep their jobs. Nor the politicians who will pander to the union and say it promotes safety.

I don't know about this. It's not as if people aren't already pulling out knives and saying "Yo, gimme your cell phone!" This would be just one more incentive.

I still think that the good old MetroCard has this beat and there is less to go wrong.

How can you use your cellphone to pay your fare in this phase II trial? Wouldn't you need a signal? Or does it read from your SIM card?

too much technology:

(1a) The test run should help determine major glitches in the system. There are already wide-scale examples of this implementation elsewhere. We might learn from them. Derrick's post speaks to this.

(1b) All new technologies (which the metrocard was, at one point) run the risk of failure. As we become more knowledgeable, we can refine our systems to be better than they were before.

(2) Regarding the lines at the token booth (versus "at the turnstiles"): Another option would be to work on alleviating the technical problems that produce the lines at all. During this phase of experimentation, it may be difficult to account for the glitches that might arise as greater numbers of riders participate. I should hope that you were as quick to dismiss the possibilities of the metrocard, since it supplanted the oh-so-convenient token. Change isn't always a matter of trading in the "devil you know" for the "devil you don't know". Sometimes it springs from true human needs-- our imaginative forces working to solve real problems.

(3) Regarding token booth obsolescence: This has already been implemented at some stations near me. Perhaps this is an anomaly?

They've had the tap card in Chicago for a while now (it refills automatically, connected to bank or credit account). I think it costs five bucks to replace (and buy), but there was an extensive promotional period. This just goes to show that technological advances are possible outside of Asia.

Actually, the real potential for this is on the buses (those are the big white and blue things, for those who only ride the subway), where instead of the tedious MetroCard dip (which can take 4-5 seconds), you just tap and go. =faster boarding=less time waiting at the stop=faster buses=getting where you're going faster.

Just have separate turnstiles for tourists.

I've been using the blue keyfob since the test program began, and I've had a perfect turnstile entrance every time. I use it daily in the morning and sometimes at night, and I haven't taken out my wallet/Metrocard in months.

Added bonus: if this is widely adopted, we don't have to worry about the endless used-up MetroCards scattered around the station floors. Less garbage = good.

I'd like to think that I'm a pretty well-seasoned MetroCard swiper, but even the best of us have to re-swipe from time to time. Not with my fob. I haven't had one issue since I started, short of waiting for people to exit the left-most gate on the 4/5/6 stations so I can use the fob scanner.

If they added a scanner to every turnstile, and allowed us to pay with pre-tax dollars (TransitChecks, etc.) than this would be perfect, and I'd be a life-long convert.

Oh, and if we're wishing, we need to get the MTA to run the show and allow us to use any credit card to back the program. I want to earn AmEx points when I ride.

They are also almost ready to deploy the contactless CharlieCard in Boston, though if you ask a Bostonian about the new Charlie system overall, you may get punched. (Boston also installed screens and PA systems capable of giving a countdown estimate, but they "decided not to switch it on", because according to the GM of the MBTA, nobody would "want" to know. Talk about mismanagement!)

Lame. The BUSES on the Italian island of Capri have been using RFID-based cards for years, including disposible ones for tourists. Just wave the card at the reader and get on board. Why is America so far behind the times?!?

Mr. Big and others who wonder why other cities' public transport is so much more technologically advanced than ours: I'm thinking it's the much, much greater proportion of gov't monies that go to support those systems in Italy, Hong Kong, etc. I'd be curious to know how much public funding per rider NYC transit receives vs. other cities with large mass transit ridership. Does anyone know of such as comparison?