Second Ave. Sagas

Video: Solving the MetroCard change ‘problem’

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

As New York problems go, having a few remaining cents on your pay-per-ride MetroCard but not enough for another swipe isn’t a particularly pressing one. It’s really simple to add enough for another ride, ask the station agent (if you can find one) to combine cards or seek out a MetroCard calculator (or two) for some pre-purchase math.

Yet, New Yorkers are too harried to find these solutions. One intrepid Subchatter has been collecting discarded MetroCards this year, and as of this week, he’s well over $560 in found money. His post from a few weeks ago provides a snapshot into his findings. With fares set to $2.25 and bonuses at 7 percent, New Yorkers would rather just give up on the nickels and dimes than deal with the math.

But what if they could donate their dollars? Three NYU students have put together a little project called MetroChange. Here’s their explanation:

MetroChange takes this value and puts it to good use, before cards are discarded. Swipe your MetroCard at a MetroChange kiosk; the value on the card is transferred to a central fund. This fund is donated to a charity once per month. The physical card is taken for recycling.

Their current site hosts the video above, and their blog contains numerous photos of their prototypes. The MTA has not embraced the proposal as tt would, after all, somehow involve reallocating money from someone — the straphangers who discard it or the MTA — and giving it to charity. “Though it sounds like a good cause, unfortunately the MTA is in no position to give millions of dollars to charity,” the authority said in a statement. “We encourage riders to reload their MetroCards.”

I’m trying to decide if it’s a solution to something that isn’t a problem or an inventive way to give to charity. Either way, it’s certainly creative.

Comments

31 responses to “Video: Solving the MetroCard change ‘problem’”

  1. Mistral

    …So am I the only one who gathers up his non-empty cards every now and then and has them combined by a station agent to get back a few rides?

    Reply
    1. Tom Grommell

      I have always done this- I save up three cards with random amounts on tem and have it added to the fresh new one. It’s easy to do, I am surprised that everyone does not do it.

      Reply
  2. JAR

    It’s really, really un-customer friendly that vending machines offer even dollar amounts ($10, $20) but not even RIDE amounts (4 rides, 10 rides).

    Reply
    1. Jason B.

      Agreed. The whole 7% bonus thing really pisses me off when they sell $10 plus a $0.70 bonus. It makes no sense, except the MTA can say “oh well” about leftover change since it was a bonus to begin with.

      More annoyingly is how I frequently have my phone out calculating how much I need, divide by 1.07 to get the amount to request for the MetroCard, and then the machine will often say it’s an invalid amount! I end up having to add 1 or 2 or 5 cents to my “exact” amount to get the MVM to accept the amount I want to add, leaving a small balance in the end anyways, albeit super small. And those 1 to 5 cent cards I just throw out.

      Reply
      1. ajedrez

        You can add in increments of 5 cents at machines, but you can add in increments of 1 cent at the token booth.

        I don’t bother with trying to figure out how much money gets an even amount (especially since my parents use both local and express buses). We just buy a bunch of $20 MetroCards and combine them when the balance gets too low.

        Reply
      2. Alon Levy

        There’s a way to compute how much you need to have an even number of rides using modular arithmetic, but I try to avoid it and just keep refilling $10-20 each time.

        Reply
        1. Bolwerk

          Stephen M. O’Neill maintains a somewhat handy (I mean, I actually used it once) MetroCard bonus calculator. Though it probably should be a phone app these days.

          Reply
          1. steveo

            Write your own phone app 😉

            Reply
        2. Bolwerk

          I’m sorry, the bonus calculator is here.

          (Stupid FireFox “upgrade” removes http:// from URLs and sometimes it forgots to concatenate the two back when you cut and paste – you know, because it’s not like the protocol is useful in almost all cases where you cut and paste a URL. Aren’t pointless features brilliant?)

          Reply
    2. Andrew

      I’ve never understood this. Obviously, there needs to be a way to enter specific dollar amounts, since some riders take a mix of subway/local bus, express bus, PATH, AirTrain, etc., or may be filling up in advance of a fare increase. But most riders are paying $2.25 fares, and the more prominent option should be to prompt the user for the desired number of rides and to calculate the appropriate amount due (to the penny, not the nickel!), taking the bonus into account.

      Reply
  3. Jon

    I’d like to figure out what exactly these NYU students are smoking, considering that idea is very unrealistic, but their blog is down.

    Reply
    1. Jon

      Okay. The blog is back up. A temporary hiccup or something.

      This is a bunch of students saying, we figured out how to read a magnetic card using our computer and electrical engineering skills. Now, how can we best show this off? I know! Let’s try to shame the MTA into *not* use millions of dollar of leftover MetroCard change!

      Reply
  4. Anon

    nexy year they will charge a dollar 4 a metrocard, why would anyone then leave money on their card?

    Reply
  5. Phil

    …and I still wonder why people bother with pay-per-ride.

    Reply
    1. Jeff

      Because not everybody needs to ride the subway or bus seven days a week

      Reply
      1. Terratalk

        Easypay Express makes it easier … my card is autoloaded when my card gets down to a certain balance and I don’t have to worry about the change … 🙂

        Reply
  6. UESider

    This is a great idea – I’m surprised the MTA went along with it

    Either way, the MTA finances count on this leftover change. It’s a pretty standard sales gimmick – the bonus gets you to buy more (they win) and the extra balance stays in the MTA’s pocket (they win again)

    Not exactly right, but I’m always in favor of the system bilking others into paying more so that I don’t have to. It takes a little extra effort to figure out exactly how much to spend and you have to keep track of petty amounts, but it’s the gift card phenomena – get lots of people to part with a little money and You end up with a lot of money

    It’s built into the financial plan – as soon as they start doing something that makes more sense to straphangers, fares will have to adjust

    Glad these brainiacs are putting their skills (and connections) to charitable cause

    Reply
    1. BrooklynBus

      Who said the MTA went along with it? If this ever gets off the ground the MTA would just sue them for stealing money that is rightfully theirs. Even if they have no case, they will drag it out until the students will not be able to afford the legal costs. The MTA will not just sit still for this. But I have one more question who will be watching to see that the money really does go to charity and most of it not goings “administrative expenses” like many other so-called charities?

      Reply
      1. VLM

        That last question is kind of a dumb question. Who’s ever watching a charity to make sure the money’s going to the right place? The Attorney General has oversight and charity tax filings are public records so that’s in your court.

        As to the lawsuit, the money isn’t rightfully the MTA’s and no one is stealing it. That’s silly.

        That said, this is an idea that will get absolutely no traction with anyone at MTA.

        Reply
        1. BrooklynBus

          I agree that the money isn’t the MTA’s but I doubt they will see it that way.

          Reply
          1. Tom Grommell

            Since we riders can always reclaim unused fragments for our own use, even after expiration, how could they ever make that argument?

            This is a thing of value that we have paid for after all.

            Reply
  7. Murray Schechter

    Uh, what’s so difficult about refilling the card? So it has an extra forty cents on it, what’s the big deal? When it gets close to expiration, trade it in. Easy peasy!

    For those who can’t figure that out, thanks for donating to the MTA, or to MetroChange!

    Reply
    1. John

      You don’t even need to trade it in, do you? Just refill the same card. You get the 7% bonus when refilling too, right?

      Reply
      1. Quinn

        Yup.

        Reply
        1. Tom Grommell

          Those of us who participate in Transitchek equivalent programs at work where they mail cards each month effectively can’t recharge the same card each month?

          We are stuck with one or two fragment value cards every month

          Reply
          1. Andrew

            So go to a booth and ask to have them combined.

            (I’m surprised any of those programs still mail a card each month. Can you sign up for a debit card instead?)

            Reply
            1. Tom Grommell

              That’s what I do.

              That’s the only option I have if I want to participate.

              Many employees only have one option for a tax advantaged program and that is a program that work this way – separate mailings every month. Which is deeply inefficient, but supposedly federal law strongly prefers it this way.

              Reply
              1. Andrew

                Interesting – I didn’t realize any of them still worked that way.

                Reply
  8. chemster

    Am I the only one who only buys cards with $39.95 (that’s right, $39.95! Remember, folks, $39.95!) on them? If you do the math, you’ll note that a $39.95 (Thirty-nine ninety-five) card gives you EXACTLY 42.7465 cents (after the 7% bonus), which, after being rounded off by the MTA, means $42.75 — or 19 rides. Sure, it’s not an even number, but you never have money left over on your card. There are other amounts which would do the same thing, but that’s left as an exercise for the reader. (Remember that the metro card machines don’t let you put amounts on a card which would require paying pennies, even if you’re using a credit-card only machine!) $39.95 is large enough that I don’t have to buy cards all the time, but not so much money that I worry about losing the card. And there’s never any money left over. So, once again, $39.95. (Why couldn’t they have programmed that as an option in the machines?)

    Reply
  9. UESider

    well done, chemster!

    that’s good math! happy holidays,all!

    Reply
  10. Chicken Underwear

    Are the NYU people actually getting the value off the card? I don’t think the MTA is giving some college kids the authority to refund and collect the value on MetroCards.

    and

    How do they recycle the old cards?

    I think this is just an academic exercise. I would love to visit NYU and find that box.

    http://whatyourdonotknowbecaus…..cards.html

    Reply

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