MTA to Propose Offering Additional Transfers During Service Changes

[Lance]

MTA Wants to Offer Riders More Free Transfers When Service Gets Interrupted

The MTA is planning to offer commuters more free transfers in the event of service disruptions, both planned and unplanned.

Transit officials tell News 4 New York that riders will be able to switch from one subway line to another, or from one bus to another, without having to pay again. by getting paper tickets handed out by staff when they exit a route with service problems.

For planned service changes, the MTA hopes to encode MetroCards with data to allow additional free transfers. 

The plan will be presented to the MTA board next month.

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota calls it a “reasonable accommodation.”

Courtesy: NBC New York

[N6 Limited]

They should do unlimited transfers/swipes in a 2 hr period or whatever the time frame is.

[Dave2836]

6 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

They should do unlimited transfers/swipes in a 2 hr period or whatever the time frame is.

That would unfortunately benefit the criminals selling swipes and open a whole can of worms.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Nice idea, but they can't execute anything properly. What they need to do is better educate their staff on the system. 

[Deucey]

2 hours ago, Dave2836 said:

That would unfortunately benefit the criminals selling swipes and open a whole can of worms.

Not to mention that several large transit systems in the US are doing away with day passes in favor of three-legged transfers (bus-bus-bus, train-bus-train or bus-train-bus).

[paulrivera]

Don't they already do the paper ticket portion of this plan? I do recall not so long ago (no more than 2 years ago) getting a block ticket at 207th on the  and handing the ticket to the booth agent at the 207th  station due to a switching problem.

9 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

They should do unlimited transfers/swipes in a 2 hr period or whatever the time frame is.

If they did that, I'd be able to buy a handful of $5.50 Metrocards at a subway station, go to an SBS stop to sell receipts, then back to the subway to sell swipes, alternate between the two every few minutes, then refill all the cards I have with one fare each every 2 hours. You can kinda do that now with a handful of $32 7-days, but it would take you much much longer (and require much more effort) to break even.

And that's why they should never do unlimited transfers. Too easy to game the system.

[N6 Limited]

38 minutes ago, paulrivera said:

If they did that, I'd be able to buy a handful of $5.50 Metrocards at a subway station, go to an SBS stop to sell receipts, then back to the subway to sell swipes, alternate between the two every few minutes, then refill all the cards I have with one fare each every 2 hours. You can kinda do that now with a handful of $32 7-days, but it would take you much much longer (and require much more effort) to break even.

And that's why they should never do unlimited transfers. Too easy to game the system.

Geeze, What about daily caps, has "selling swypes/taps"happened in cities with daily caps?

[MTA Bus]

Honestly, I don't understand why we can't have two free transfers with each paid fare. 

[paulrivera]

6 hours ago, MTA Bus said:

Honestly, I don't understand why we can't have two free transfers with each paid fare. 

We can't have two free transfers because Cuomo vetoed the idea and mandated the paper ticket system mentioned by the OP instead.

[Gotham Bus Co.]

On 12/18/2017 at 2:31 PM, N6 Limited said:

They should do unlimited transfers/swipes in a 2 hr period or whatever the time frame is.

 

For years I have suggested replacing all transfer privileges with a time-based pass. Just dip or swipe once to get full access to the "base" system (subway, local bus, S.I. Railway) for a fixed amount of time. The fixed interval can even vary by time of day (e.g. 4 hours overnight, 2.5 hours other times) and be extended for disruptions.

[checkmatechamp13]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:57 PM, paulrivera said:

Don't they already do the paper ticket portion of this plan? I do recall not so long ago (no more than 2 years ago) getting a block ticket at 207th on the  and handing the ticket to the booth agent at the 207th  station due to a switching problem.

If they did that, I'd be able to buy a handful of $5.50 Metrocards at a subway station, go to an SBS stop to sell receipts, then back to the subway to sell swipes, alternate between the two every few minutes, then refill all the cards I have with one fare each every 2 hours. You can kinda do that now with a handful of $32 7-days, but it would take you much much longer (and require much more effort) to break even.

And that's why they should never do unlimited transfers. Too easy to game the system.

The transfer matrix could be programmed so that you can't transfer back to the same line (which makes logical sense, which is why the current transfer system forbids transfers to the same line in either direction, or those pairs like the Bx40/42, 5th/Madison buses, 3rd/Lexington buses, etc). So once you swipe at the subway and use your transfer for the +SBS+ machines, you have to ride to some other stop if you want to keep up your hustle.