The subway token has mingled with coins on dresser tops and in the purses and pockets of New Yorkers for 40 years. But today it moves a bit closer to extinction as the Transit Authority begins to sell electronic fare cards in the first two stations of its sprawling subway system, the nation's largest.
The introduction of automatic fare collection, starting with the Whitehall Street station on the N and R lines and the Wall Street station on the 4 and 5 lines, both in lower Manhattan, brings New York City into the company of other major cities, from Washington to London, that have long used cards instead of coins or tokens. Officials say it will eventually lead to fundamental changes in the transit system, making fare purchases quicker and more convenient and paving the way for discounts, monthly passes and other fare incentives intended to lure more riders.
69 Stations by April
Between now and April, 69 of the busiest stations in the system will activate the sophisticated new turnstiles equipped with fare card machines. The remaining 400 stations will start offering the cards in phases, but not until early 1995 because officials say they need a year to work out possible problems in the technology.
The 3,650 buses operated by the Transit Authority will also be outfitted with the card readers during that time, enabling riders to use the MetroCard, as the thin plastic card is called, on both subways and buses. The entire network should be in place by the end of 1997, when the token should finally become an urban relic.
"It's a new era for our customers," said Peter E. Stangl, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the Transit Authority. "It opens up the possibility for fare structures that over time will help us increase our ridership, which is why we're in business."
The automatic fare collection system making its debut today has been studied, criticized, lobbied for and delayed for more than a decade. At a cost of nearly $700 million, it is one of the biggest undertakings in the 90-year history of the subway system and one on which officials are pinning lofty goals, from improving the environment by curbing car emissions to improving the economy by lifting the region's traffic burden.
$5 Increments
Initially, the cards will be encoded in $5 increments, with amounts ranging from $5 to $80. Each time a passenger swipes the card through the electronic turnstile slot, a $1.25 fare will be deducted from the magnetic stripe and the machine will flash the amount left on the card. Once the value is depleted, the passenger will be able to re-use the card, buying more rides from a token clerk who will simply register a new dollar amount.
About half the stations in the subway system have been outfitted with the new turnstiles, which have both a slot for fare cards and a slot for tokens and are also designed to foil fare beaters. But upgrading the power supply and installing the electronics is a slow process.
Transit officials expect that only 8 percent of the riders who pass through the first 69 stations will buy the cards because most people will still need tokens for all the stations that do not yet accept fare cards. But financing is already approved for the switch to automated fare collection, and officials say the program's future doesn't hinge on how many riders participate at first.
Later this year, the M.T.A. plans to introduce the first of what it hopes will be a package of discounts, giving passengers a couple of extra rides, for instance, on a large fare purchase. When more of the system is outfitted with the electronic readers, the agency will be in a better position to offer monthly passes for unlimited rides at a set price, and free bus-to- subway transfers, two incentives urged by Mr. Stangl and supported in principle by the M.T.A. board.
There is also discussion by M.T.A. officials of off-peak discounts and weekly passes. But the agency says it will not offer varying rates for different distances traveled, as Washington's system does, because passengers would have to swipe cards through the turnstiles on their way in and out, slowing traffic in subway stations to a crawl.
Single Paper Fares
The M.T.A. assumes that many riders will buy their fares in bulk as more and more stations offer the cards. However, the system will still need to accommodate passengers who want a single fare, and those cards will probably be made of paper rather than plastic, officials say.
Transit advocates were pleased about the start of automatic fare collection but raised concerns about whether the discount for monthly passes will be big enough to be attractive. The Straphangers Campaign, a transportation watchdog group that had been promoting fare cards since 1980, believes there should be a substantial discount to attract new passengers to a subway system that has lost half its ridership in the last four decades.
Joseph G. Rappaport, coordinator for the Straphangers Campaign, said a monthly pass that sold for the price of 40 trips, or $50 at the current fare, would win new passengers who use the subway to commute to work, since evening and weekend trips would in effect be free.
He fears that the M.T.A. will price the monthly passes in the $60 to $75 range. "They believe that some riders will find it more convenient to buy the electronic equivalent of a 10-pack of tokens, rather than the 10-pack itself," he said. "That's fine. But you don't spend $700 million for that. What you do is figure out ways of getting more people."
The M.T.A. is now studying how to price the monthly passes, as well as what incentives to offer. Its goal is to maximize ridership without severely hurting revenue. Increased ridership would offset the cost of a discount somewhat, but there could still be a significant gap, officials say.
Bernard Cohen, director of policy and planning for the M.T.A., said the agency wanted the package of discounts and incentives to yield a "5 to 10 percent increase" in riders. Average weekday ridership is now 3.4 million on the subways and 1.25 million on the buses.
No Rush at First
With only a fraction of the system starting up this spring, passengers may not rush to buy the fare cards. "It's true that the faster you roll out a system, the quicker you'll get adoption," said Russ Broshous, president of the M.T.A. Card Company, the agency established to establish automatic fare collection. "But given the starkness of the change, we felt that we should be prudent and make sure that it runs well."
That could prove to be a challenge. Other cities experienced technical problems upon start-up of their automatic fare collection, with the machines not reading the cards properly. A critical report issued last year by the New York State Comptroller's Office challenged the claims made by the Transit Authority as to the durability of the card and the accuracy of the fare card machines.
Where to Use Fare Cards
These stations will begin taking automated fare cards by April:
