Here is a novel idea!!!

What is more annoying than the morning rush? Most everybody has some kind of battle-scar from the morning commute and I am no different. In NYC where just about everybody takes some form of mass-transportation, I believe we have it worse than most because although 80% (no idea if that number is true) of us use mass-transit we have about the oldest and worst run systems in the world.. It's not just the crowded, hot, smelly trains as much as the people you deal with. In the 10 years as a NYC resident, there has been a lot of talk of improved services, new lines, electronic boards but I still stand on the same un-airconditioned platforms, waiting for the same over-crowded trains on the same rat-infested tracks and the only thing we are told is that our fares will go up AND our services cut.

You know TOR has rallied against many parts of the subway but today we offer the MTA a suggestion we have put forth before.
Why not put some Metro-card machines on the platform? How often do your passengers run down the stairs as a train pulls into the station and when they swipe their card and see the message 'insufficient funds'. There is no way to refill the card in time to catch that train so obviously in that situation you have little choice but the issue isn't that particular ride but the one before that.
What happens to me often is the time I am made aware that my card is low is the time I swipe it and see a balance of less than $2.25 but the issue of course is that I am now on the platform while the metrocard machine sits goading me behind the metal-bars. By the time I get off the train, I have long forgotten the whole low balance thing which means that the next time I rush down the stairs I'll get the daunting insufficient funds message

Since there is so much time to kill waiting for a train, this is the ideal time to give passengers a chance to refill their cards including the complex mathematics necessary to refill the card to a total divisible by $2.25.


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