Monday, March 11, 2013

Take on the MetroCard expiration date

I walked into the subway the other day after not having taken the
train regularly in six months and met one of the most ridiculous
messages I've ever gotten when I tried to swipe through..."card
expired"

With all the energy in strap-hanger cost structures the MTA is now
putting into getting people to refill their old cards isn't it a
perfect time to also get rid of those ridiculous expiration dates?
I have a card with $50 but because it hit some random date, my $50 now
disappears. It's not like a carton of milk which can go bad, we're
talking about a piece of plastic which the tree huggers will tell you
probably won't disintegrate for a millennium
My issue is that the card in my wallet is fine, it still has a
completely intact magnetic stripe and except for the expiration date
would still works. looking at it and knowing how often I'd use it
now, I would think that it is probably usable for another six months
but who cares what I think. It's either a conscious decision from the
MTA to rob people of their hard earned money or it's a completely
idiotic design flaw
Ever notice they don't add an expiration date to dollar bills?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm pretty sure that you can transfer your existing balance to a new card from the machine. I did that on my last trip to NY with the $8 left on my card from November.