NYU Students Create "MetroChange" To Deal With Your Leftover MetroCard Money

You know those MetroCards that have a random, unusable amount of money left on them, that are destined to burn a hole in your pocket? If you take all the leftover money on those things, it adds up to $52 million a year. So why not have a kiosk that allows you to donate your card's leftover funds into one central fund, which is then donated to charity? That's the idea behind MetroChange.

The physical card would be taken for recycling, and the money on it would go to charity. The creators (students of NYU's Interactive Communications Program) they have researched how to make this happen (in nerd-speak: "There is a kiosk with Arduino, ethernet shield, LCD screen, IR transmitter and receiver, and magstripe reader"), and that each person donating would be able to choose on the kiosk which charity to donate to.

You can go through their testing process right here, where they conclude, "We’re continuing this project—we hope to find more ways of eating into these odd problems with the MetroCard system upstream. After that we’ll devise ways of using any remaining value that is left on cards in a more productive way." We've reached out to the MTA, who may have something to say about all this, and will update when we hear back.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on December 21, 2011 9:22 AM

Comments [rss]

Ian Dutton

With Cuomo raping the MTA budget to the tune of hundreds of millions ( http://www.streetsblog.org/201... ), I can't see MTA doing anything other than sitting on every penny it can find. I'd donate to better transit and a replacement governor, thank you!

Dead Himmler

The MTA needs the money in order to help implement pay increases. This charity thing must be a joke.

winning1234

More than a charity, I think the MTA needs this money. This idea kinda sucks.

colonelcasey

I'm curious how they plan on recycling the cards. Last I heard, recycling these cards would not be fiscally sustainable.

Chicken Underwear

I really think this is just an academic exercise. The cards are not recyclable, the MTA does not issue cash refunds and NYU can not extract the leftover value from the cords.

veeeev

I think the idea was to put these kiosks in areas that tourists frequent. tourists are more likely to buy pay-per-ride cards, less likely to consolidate cards, and more likely to have no use for their metrocards once they leave the city.

ganghiscon

How is any amount on a Metrocard unusable? Is there a substantial population of straphangers who don't realize they're refillable?

bearzy123

NYC ........third world country !!!

Ian MacAllen

There are so many problems with this. First, the MTA relies on the millions of unused metrocard money. Second to that is the issue of disposable fare cards both creating physical waste as well as financial waste either to the agency or in the future, the consumer who will end up paying for cards. Wouldn't a better project be to create a permanent card system without odd amounts left on the card and that doesn't produce the waste of disposable cards?

MattyGC

Honeslty this is why NYC needs a non-disposable smart card that takes money from your credit card. Disposable MTA are cards a huge waste.

Ian MacAllen

Technically the MTA was responsible for developing a non-disposable regional smart card in conjunction with Port Authority and NJ Transit, but while the Port Authority went ahead and implemented the system, the MTA moved on to another system and NJ Transit isn't doing anything along those lines.

MattyGC

The money should go and stay with the MTA. I don't understand this.

Marc Hug

hahahahaaaa. it isn't rocket science. it is your money not the MTAs. you should be able to do whatever you want with your money. the MTA hopes you forget about the extra money that isn't quite enough for a subway ride on your card and they profit off of it. i consolidate all mine but i think the charity is a good idea.

michelalano

It goes from being your money to MTA's money the moment you put it in the machine. The metrocard has no money "on" it. It's just representative of what you've already given to the MTA.

Therefore it depends on the MTA to allow the funds to be given to charity.

virgilstarkwell

bravo for them - putting their parents hard-earned education dollars to a good use.

Chicken Underwear

Is the MTA really giving the charity the value on the MetroCard? They don't refund unused balances.

http://whatyourdonotknowbecaus...

I would love to turn the unused balances into cash.

ItchyGomez

Seriously. Charity is cool and all, but there really shouldn't be any "unused balances" anyway. It's just a ripoff.

michelalano

EDIT: This is a neat idea, but it relies on the MTA's participation to allow the leftover funds to be donated to charity. If they can convince the MTA to participate, maybe it would be more efficient to just add a button onto the existing metrocard kiosks that says "donate." I mean I guess it's neat that they spent all that time hacking and reinventing a swiping machine, but they're making it way more complicated than it needs to be.

And while I'm at it, the machines should also allow individual users to consolidate cards instead of seeing an agent. Also, have they eliminated the little metrocard recycling boxes around the stations or am I just imagining things?

BKExcuse

The idea is that the MTA would refund the value on the card to MetroChange. Seeing as the MTA would lose revenue by doing this I don't see it happening. They also hope some other company may match the funds, but again I don't see why they would.

michelalano

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. But, like you said, it requires the participation of an outside source so that makes it less likely.

My main gripe now is that it seems too clunky. I know it's a prototype, but if they have a solid idea, it should be better incorporated into existing infrastructure. Having a new machine to service, get hacked, beaten or destroyed in hundreds of stations doesn't really make sense.

People are more likely to donate if you make it super easy. Here's an idea: Take those existing check-your-balance thingies and update them with "metro change" software. That way, people can check their card balance and be prompted or encouraged to donate the remaining balance to charity.

diogene

Am I the only person that asks for a consolidation from the station personnel? 2.24 isn't an "unusable amount of money" to me. I like how NYU students came up with this idea - a group of riders whose parents are likely paying for their transit costs.

Here's a clear way to donate to a more meaningful and local charity: take all of that extra money that gets dropped on the floor to invest in making even stations in poor areas safe to breathe in and safe to walk in at night.

syannelevovna

I was thinking the exact same thing. If I have an "unusable" amount of money on my MetroCard, I just put more money on it. That money isn't "unusable."

Arpit Vaidya

Edit.

K

I always consolidate my cards too, I thought this was the norm.

luke_1

I do the math and put funny amounts like 1.58 or whatever on my card just to get it down to 0.

Roark

Yeah I have a feeling NYU Students (and quite possibly the subpar journalists at Gothamist) did not even know you could consolidate cards.

Gothampc

Or NYU could cut out the middleman and make a machine that immediately redeems the amount on the card so that people could just hand the cards directly to a homeless person.