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| Re: Why We Need a Moratorium on Future SBS Routes (303185) | |||
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Re: Why We Need a Moratorium on Future SBS Routes |
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Posted by Stephen Bauman on Mon Mar 2 20:19:25 2015, in response to Re: Why We Need a Moratorium on Future SBS Routes, posted by BrooklynBus on Mon Mar 2 19:12:12 2015. All RFID cards will do is make the enforcement fairer so that you still will be able to board with an unlimited pass if the machines are out of order. SBS permits faster boarding through all the doors. As long as you have that, you still have SBS. If everyone as to board through the front door, you don't save that much time, so why spend money on inspectors?Let me try to educate you. The current fare collection occupies the single most reducible time waster for buses that's totally within the MTA's control. The bus metrocard readers certainly take much more time than the old coin boxes when fares were a nickel or a dime. Off bus fare collection tries to counter this. There's a problem. It's expensive to make bullet proof, unattended machines that contain/collect money. Consequently, SBS has to limit the number of stations because the fare collection machines are expensive. This limit's SBS' attractiveness because walking the extra distance to an SBS stop takes more time than any SBS savings. Enter the touch card. The bus has 2 or 3 doors. There are touch sensors at each door. The customer uses his new metrocard card to touch the fare box. The box beeps it's ok and records the transaction internally and on the card. Transaction time is about the same as it used to take to toss a nickel into the fare box. If there's a problem with accepting the metrocard there's buzz with the message to see the driver. There's also a conventional fare box up front with the driver. Those without a metrocard enter the front door and pay a cash fare. They are issued a receipt. The extra touch card readers are fairly inexpensive. They are not outdoors. They don't handle currency. They don't print tickets. Maintenance is minimal. Come the fare police. They have a handheld card reader. They go to the onboard fare boxes and upload the information of the metrocards that were recorded. They then go passenger to passenger to touch their metrocard or inspect the paper receipt. The off bus ticket dispensers are removed. All fare collection is on the bus. This means the bus can make all stops and still save time on the run. There's no need to separate routes to limited and local service. Passengers don't have to spend extra time walking to a limited stop. |
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