Comments on: Seven years after its death, the token lives on

By: KPL

KPL — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:33:25 +0000

When I visited Chicago about a year ago, they had smart cards that worked in both the subway and the bus system.

By: herenthere

herenthere — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:10:19 +0000

And the new Orion buses have this new announcement just like the messages that are displayed on the displays of the new bus shelters: “Welcome to New York. It’s a MetroCard City. For more info on the MetroCard, visit http://www.mta.info” even though it isn’t even an airport bus lol.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:59:01 +0000

Do the SmartCards in other countries also work on buses? One technological limitation in New York is that the buses cannot always (reliably, anyway) be connected to a central computer database to check a balance, so the remaining value needs to be stored on the MetroCard.

Thus, two things happen with a swipe: the current balance is read, and a new balance is written to the card. Then both functions need to be verified, meaning another card-read. Lots of room for error here.

If all the balance information could be centralized in a host computer, there would be no need to write to (and verify) the card, and it would go much smoother. I also don’t know of any “write-able” RFID devices.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:53:28 +0000

The Smart Cards in DC and London are fantastic. You just touch and keep walking. No break in your stride at all. The DC SmarTrip are not nearly as useful as the Oyster Cards — which are significantly smarter. But the RFID technology is similar.

By: SEAN

SEAN — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:56:09 +0000

enroll in the EasyPay program. Even if fares are deducted with unessessary swipes, you can receive free rides after 46 trips over a single month. BTW This is quite easy to do living in New York. The other option is unlimited ride Metrocards.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:02:37 +0000

I don’t remember ever needing to rescan in Singapore or Shanghai.

While New York is older than Singapore and Shanghai and has older infrastructure, a smartcard would be newer than in those cities, and so should work as well or better.

By: Jerrold

Jerrold — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:29:53 +0000

And yet the Transit Authority always tells us that an extra fare will NOT be deducted unless you go to another turnstile!

It sounds like, when this happened to you,
a fare was being deducted for every unsuccessful swipe.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:47:49 +0000

Understood, and I think there was an SAS post about this a couple of months ago. But I was late for work, and didn’t have time to wait on line. If I went to a different clerk at a different station, they wouldn’t know that the turnstile denied entry.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:00:30 +0000

In those situations, the token clerk is far from useless. My experience has always been positive with token clerks in that situation. They’ll let you through the turnstile and at the very least, provide you with instructions on restoring the fare if they don’t do it themselves.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:57:20 +0000

and eventually “INSUFFICIENT FARE”. Happened to me about a week ago . I don’t know how many fares I paid that morning, but after swiping 15 or so times (at a single Atlantic Ave HEET with a long line of people behind me), and then getting the Insufficient Fare message at a different bank of turnstiles, I didn’t have time to wait on line for the (probably useless) token clerk, so I bought a new card and swiped my way through.