MTA to educate riders on how to ride smart and save money with discounts

[Harry]

[float=left][/float]If you educate them, they will ride smarter. The next year will launch a public outreach campaign aimed at convincing riders to use one of the discount-offering MetroCards, Chairman Joe Lhota said Thursday.

 

The majority of riders — 85% — use a bonus MetroCard, or one of the time-based passes, which lowers their per-trip costs below the base subway and bus fare. But 15% pay the base fare with a regular MetroCard, cash on a bus, or shell out $2.50 for a one-way subway ticket.

 

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[Via Garibaldi 8]

LOL... I don't think it's a lack of education... More like a lack of money. If you look at how many people beat the fare it shouldn't be surprising that 15% of folks pay-per-ride and pay the base fare. Some folks can't afford to pay for the pass or pay for a monthly. I heard this one guy yacking a while back ago when I used the shuttle bus to get to MetroNorth about how expensive it is for him to pay for his monthly service. With the amount of young folks out here without jobs, many of whom are still living at home I'm not at all surprised. We are still in a recession.

[Quill Depot]

With less education… the makes MORE money! I don't see why Lhota wants to do this.

[FamousNYLover]

Some other transit shows video of how to ride subway, bus, etc.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

With less education… the makes MORE money! I don't see why Lhota wants to do this.

 

Actually I think you're wrong. With more education it will be cheaper for those folks to use the system, thus it should encourage them to use it more, which would then mean more revenue for the . I think that's the thought process. It's the same thing with people who use passes. They ride far more than they would if they had to pay for each ride, so they take discretionary trips, which is what the wants folks to do.

[Gorgor]

Actually I think you're wrong. With more education it will be cheaper for those folks to use the system, thus it should encourage them to use it more, which would then mean more revenue for the . I think that's the thought process. It's the same thing with people who use passes. They ride far more than they would if they had to pay for each ride, so they take discretionary trips, which is what the wants folks to do.

 

If someone has a monthly metrocard the MTA gets the same amount of money out of them whether they take 10 trips or whether they take 500 trips, just saying.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

 

 

If someone has a monthly metrocard the MTA gets the same amount of money out of them whether they take 10 trips or whether they take 500 trips, just saying.

Not if you have people with you they don't. The discretionary trips that I've taken sometimes includes friends. One of my friends actually uses a pay-per-ride because she doesn't travel every day, but also because of the cost. She's an artist and has two little ones and lives in the city so she has to watch her spending. When we hang out I don't worry about travel and just go. Meanwhile she does, so sometimes I'll just buy her some rides so she can travel with me or whatever.

[checkmatechamp13]

With less education… the makes MORE money! I don't see why Lhota wants to do this.

 

 

Not necessarily. There is extra cost involved in processing these single rides. With the SingleRide Ticket, you have to account for the extra paper required to print out the ticket, and then the wear-and-tear on the machine (and/or the station agent's time). When people pay in cash on the bus, it takes a little longer to board, but more importantly, it's harder to process the coins since you need to suck them out with a vacuum, store them, and so on.

 

If someone has a monthly metrocard the MTA gets the same amount of money out of them whether they take 10 trips or whether they take 500 trips, just saying.

 

 

I think he's basically saying that if you buy the passes with the discounts, you're likely to spend more money then you otherwise would've. So if you used Pay-Per-Ride and paid say, $90 a month, they might encourage you to get an Unlimited for $104.

 

The thing is that they're referring more to the SingleRide users. I doubt you'll get them to switch to the monthly pass, but you might get them to switch to a regular PPR with a bonus, and they might spend a few more dollars that way. But I think it has more to do with I said above about the MTA saving on labor and passing the costs on to those passengers.