Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 31, 2014 Share #1 Posted January 31, 2014 I've noticed on a few occasions last week that when trying to swipe my Metrocard at a turnstile, the entire row of turnstiles weren't working. This happened Monday at Times Square near 40th street. It was as if there was a malfunction because one person in front me swiped and then no one at any of turnstiles could swipe. I went to multiple turnstiles at that part of the station and could not get my Metrocard to work and the same thing happened with other folks. I had to be somewhere and just said screw it and walked through the emergency exit since I have an unlimited Express Bus Metrocard. Other people started doing the same thing. A similar incident happened a few days later at 47-50th street, though I was eventually able to get my Metrocard to work. It didn't seem to be a situation in which the machines needed to be cleaned as I've seen employees do at Grand Central for example, but more like there was just a system failure for whatever reason due to so many people swiping during rush hour. Anyone else experience this? It was very strange to say the least. The other thing that I'm curious about is when an entire subway station doesn't take a credit or debit card. What's up with that? That happened recently at Columbus Circle. I had to walk to Lincoln Center to the train station and refill my card there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsunflyguy Posted January 31, 2014 Share #2 Posted January 31, 2014 I had a similar incident at 47-50th in early January in the late evening. I couldn't get my Metrocard to work at the Special Entry turnstile (I usually swipe at). After about 15 tries resulting in "swipe again" (no 'at this turnstile' message). I moved to another one stating 'just used'. I tried to explain to the SA, but he didn't buy it. I also had an incident where an MVM (Van Siclen ) took my $10 but didn't encode it onto my card. But I can't say I've heard of a whole bank of turnstiles failing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted January 31, 2014 I had a similar incident at 47-50th in early January in the late evening. I couldn't get my Metrocard to work at the Special Entry turnstile (I usually swipe at). After about 15 tries resulting in "swipe again" (no 'at this turnstile' message). I moved to another one stating 'just used'. I tried to explain to the SA, but he didn't buy it. I also had an incident where an MVM (Van Siclen ) took my $10 but didn't encode it onto my card. But I can't say I've heard of a whole bank of turnstiles failing. Yep... It was weird because one person would go through, then a whole bunch of us would try and nothing. I thought it was just isolated to one turnstile and figured it was just some tourists that didn't know how to use a Metrocard, but then I realized that the whole entire row of turnstiles weren't working to go Uptown and Downtown. At 47-50th there was a brief delay. The turnstiles were a problem but worked when I moved to another one, but the HEET didn't seem to even be taking any Metrocards. Really weird. I just got the impression that it had to be some sort of temporary glitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsunflyguy Posted February 1, 2014 Share #4 Posted February 1, 2014 Now, the glitch thing was odd to me. My understanding was the fare data was encoded into the card and the turnstile would tack on a fare removal code and open the turnstile. A failure like that would imply there is some central system required for a metrocard to operate, I can't fathom what would take out so many turnstiles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtehpanda Posted February 1, 2014 Share #5 Posted February 1, 2014 Now, the glitch thing was odd to me. My understanding was the fare data was encoded into the card and the turnstile would tack on a fare removal code and open the turnstile. A failure like that would imply there is some central system required for a metrocard to operate, I can't fathom what would take out so many turnstiles. There is a central system to keep track of Metrocard balances, but I was under the impression that it did not necessarily have to be connected for people to be able to swipe in. Things like this are probably why the MTA doesn't forecast keeping Metrocard past 2019. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsunflyguy Posted February 1, 2014 Share #6 Posted February 1, 2014 I can understand a central system keeping track of balances for records and verification. But the card should work without outside input, otherwise buses couldn't collect fares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vistausss Posted February 1, 2014 Share #7 Posted February 1, 2014 There is a central system to keep track of Metrocard balances, but I was under the impression that it did not necessarily have to be connected for people to be able to swipe in. It isn't. The turnstiles are managed in place, where they are placed. There's no outside connection for swiping in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion VII 4 Life Posted February 2, 2014 Share #8 Posted February 2, 2014 It isn't. The turnstiles are managed in place, where they are placed. There's no outside connection for swiping in.Right, and the same for the bus fareboxes. The turnstile/farebox reads the old balance and writes a new one on. But at certain intervals (once a week or something like that IIRC) the fareboxes and turnstiles update all the transactions to a central database. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.