“Your MetroCard Is Now Worth $5.50”

Good For 2 3/4 Rides

Riding the subway lately seems like going out to dinner with one of those jerks who divides the check so precisely he asks you for $17.46, and that’s only because you can’t split a cent in half.
The profligate MTA, whose wasteful ways and duplicitous bookkeeping have been chronicled in numerous audits, gave in to pressure not to raise the fare with a backdoor increase on the backs of riders of moderate frequency. Instead of a $2.00 bonus for every ten rides purchased, the bonus is now $1.50. Too bad that’s not enough for a full ride. So after exhausting the ten rides, a rider then faces the choice of adding 50 cents for the last ride or buying another ten rides and winding up with a $3.00 bonus (good for one and a half rides, except there are no half-rides). Only on a $40 purchase do you end up with an even bonus good for three rides. The MTA is obviously pushing for a front-loading boost by pushing the high-priced card, and also banking on a stall float for the rest. Many of those who buy the smaller cards will simply carry around that surplus for days, weeks or months before paying to even it out. In some cases people will be frustrated, lazy or forgetful enough to toss away the card with the surplus, giving the MTA a free gift and getting nothing in return. Call it a de facto transit tax.
If only the MTA put as much effort into cutting spending and streamlining the system as they do figuring out clever, penny pinching schemes.