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18 minute rule and unlimited Metrocards


Via Garibaldi 8

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Sunday morning I was running a bit behind schedule so rather than waiting for who knows how long for car service, I jumped on an S53 and took it to the service road (Narrows Road South) hoping to catch an X10 that was scheduled there in a minute or two. Thinking that it came early, I saw another S53 coming going towards Hylan Blvd, so I jumped on it not realizing that the 18 or so minutes hadn't passed since I had gotten the last S53. The B/O was cool about it since she realized I was trying to get the X1.

 

I do bus hopping a lot to try to catch other express buses when I want to get to work or home quick and yesterday morning I did the following in less than 10 minutes:

 

No X30 was coming and it was the last bus of the morning, so an S48 came at Clove and Forest. I took that to Forest and Manor, got off where a S54 was caught at the light. I got on that and took that to Victory and Manor where two X12s were waiting at the light. So basically I caught three buses in probably less than 10 minutes. My Unlimited card went through all three times. I'm just wondering aside from not allowing you to make any connections to the same bus in less than ~18 minutes if there are any other quirky things you can't do with the Unlimited Express Bus Plus card within the subway-bus-express bus "allowances"?

 

P.S. I made one more connection at Bowling Green for the 4 train once I got off of the X12 Downtown. The funny thing is that with the 4 transfers, I got in at about the same time I normally do with the X30. B)

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The 18 minute lockout just means you can't use the same card twice at the same station or on the same farebox.

 

You pulled the S48 > S54 > X12 ride solely off normal usage. First ride, transfer, second ride.

 

You can't use it on the same route either in the same direction. For example, I got on the S59 at Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Avenue and rode it to Tottenville within ten minutes. I had an Unlimited. I then took an S59 at the Tottenville terminal to head back to Richmond Avenue so I could catch the S79 home...but the card wouldn't read, because the S59 was signed as Tottenville, and not Port Richmond. I had to tell the B/O his sign was wrong, and after he changed it to read "Port Richmond", my card was finally accepted.

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The 18 minute lockout just means you can't use the same card twice at the same station or on the same farebox.

 

You can avoid the 18min lockout by going to another station however.

 

Its like if u r at Broad Street on the BMT u can swipe someone in(like friend) and walk to the IRT Wall Street (4)(5) and swipe yourself in. I do that sometimes. Even tho its sometimes better everyone had metrocard to not waste time.

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You can't use it on the same route either in the same direction. For example, I got on the S59 at Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Avenue and rode it to Tottenville within ten minutes. I had an Unlimited. I then took an S59 at the Tottenville terminal to head back to Richmond Avenue so I could catch the S79 home...but the card wouldn't read, because the S59 was signed as Tottenville, and not Port Richmond. I had to tell the B/O his sign was wrong, and after he changed it to read "Port Richmond", my card was finally accepted.

 

Very interesting... So in other words the actual farebox is tied into what the display sign on the bus?

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You can avoid the 18min lockout by going to another station however.

 

Its like if u r at Broad Street on the BMT u can swipe someone in(like friend) and walk to the IRT Wall Street (4)(5) and swipe yourself in. I do that sometimes. Even tho its sometimes better everyone had metrocard to not waste time.

 

Didn't think about that either. At the time I just wanted to get moving, but I'll keep that in mind should I have a problem. :cool:

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The 18 minute lockout just means you can't use the same card twice at the same station or on the same farebox.

 

You pulled the S48 > S54 > X12 ride solely off normal usage. First ride, transfer, second ride.

 

 

Theoretically there is no real "time lapse" required to transfer from one bus to another be it a Pay-Per-Ride Metrocard or an Unlimited Metrocard right?

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Theoretically there is no real "time lapse" required to transfer from one bus to another be it a Pay-Per-Ride Metrocard or an Unlimited Metrocard right?

 

Transfers are 2.5 hours left from the time you swipe or dip your Metro-Card...so if you dipped your card on the bus....you have a transfer that will expire in the hours I stated!

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The bus operator was cool cause he know that the card was valid. On the IFU (Intergrate Farebox Unit) it came up as pass back, meaning it was used on the same line within 18 mins like stated before. The farebox does control the destination signs but the the destination sign control does not send info to the farebox.

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Wirelessly posted via (BlackBerry8520/5.0.0.900 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

 

Theoretically there is no real "time lapse" required to transfer from one bus to another be it a Pay-Per-Ride Metrocard or an Unlimited Metrocard right?

 

With a PPR Metrocard, you can swipe in the same direction at the same place up to 4 times. Then after that, I think the 18 min rule kicks in again but I'm not sure

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Transfers are 2.5 hours left from the time you swipe or dip your Metro-Card...so if you dipped your card on the bus....you have a transfer that will expire in the hours I stated!

 

2.5? I thought two hours? Do they give an extra 30min?

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Very interesting... So in other words the actual farebox is tied into what the display sign on the bus?

 

Yup...that's why you also see some B/Os programming the route with the farebox and not just the sign located above them.

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Yup...that's why you also see some B/Os programming the route with the farebox and not just the sign located above them.

That doesn't go into effect with the LIB's. They use the clever devices to switch the sign or use the luminator itself

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That's pretty much it. As far as the Not In Service and Next Bus Please signs, the driver puts it in via the luminator. It's really interesting because the 3 bus companies have their own wet of bus codes. They don't overlap

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So theoretically, if an express bus driver typed in the wrong code, and got a local bus destination sign, riders would pay $2.25.

 

BTW, what is the story with "Out of Service" buses. I've seen express buses signed up as "Out of Service", but they still took off $5.50 from the MetroCard.

 

out of service buses take the appropriote fare reguardless...took the q5 to 165 Street, took the 2.25 off, wen i boarded the q44 to west farms sq it said out of service (i knew it was the q44 by the fact i get the same driver jus about every day) wen i dipped my card, instead of reading TRANSFER OK it said 2.25 PAID ssssooooo no transfer. didnt argur because i have ridden the bus for free MANY TIMES, this one time isnt gunna break me

 

so ultimatley it wont recognize a transfer, itll jus deduct the appropriote fare

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You never know. A couple of times, that happened to me when I took 2 regular buses.

 

It happened to me many years ago on the B36 going towards Brighton Beach. I get on, swipe the card and it says "Read Error". I dip the card again, see the total and realized that it had stolen another fare from me... At the time I was 15, heading to my first summer job that I had just started and wasn't exactly loaded cash wise since I hadn't started receiving checks yet, so I was a bit peeved to say the least. That's why I love having an Unlimited Card. In all of the years I've been using them I've only had a problem maybe twice with them malfunctioning.

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Now, I get a Student MetroCard, so that usually saves me the worry of having fares deducted instead of transfers.

 

But with the Express Bus Plus MetroCard, you already save just by going to work. With a Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard, you're paying $5.14 per ride, which is $51.40 per week, and the Express Bus Plus MetroCard costs $50. Plus, you get to ride the local buses and subways as much as you want.

 

But when I grow older and get a real job and have to do real commuting, I'll probably be using some sort of Unlimited MetroCard. I see the advantage with a Student MetroCard-you can make trips that you would never make if you had to pay for it.

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The bus driver only knows what pops up on the screen. If it says "Student OK", they know it is a Student MetroCard. If it says "Transfer OK", they know it was a transfer, and if it says "$2.25 paid", they know it was a Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard.

 

One question: What does it say when you dip in your Express Bus Plus MetroCard?

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The bus driver only knows what pops up on the screen. If it says "Student OK", they know it is a Student MetroCard. If it says "Transfer OK", they know it was a transfer, and if it says "$2.25 paid", they know it was a Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard.

 

One question: What does it say when you dip in your Express Bus Plus MetroCard?

 

Since the Express card is another form of an unlimited, it will say the day the card expires. The same goes for all other unlimited cards.

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