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MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012

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A new MetroCard could soon cost a buck more — and that’s before you even put any money on it.

Under an MTA proposal, straphangers would be forced to pay a $1 “green fee” on each new MetroCard they buy.

The Earth-friendly, wallet-hostile proposal appears in the MTA’s preliminary budget for next year.

The goal is to reduce the amount of MetroCards that are printed, discarded and hauled to the landfill, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

But the surcharge also will reap the MTA plenty of dough — an estimated $20 million a year, according to the budget. Straphangers were not pleased.

“It seems they’re trying to find anyway they can to get more money out of us,” said Quiana Neal, 25, of Brooklyn after buying a MetroCard at the Whitehall St. station in lower Manhattan.

Kathy Green, 51, of Queens, agreed.

“It’s called ‘nickel and diming,’ ” Green said.

Tourists unfamiliar with the rule would get hit the hardest, Green predicted. Regular straphangers will be “forced” to recycle their MetroCards, she said.

“If you’re hitting people in the pocket, you’re going to make them do something,” Green, a training and technology consultant, said.

The MTA on average prints and encodes 160 million MetroCards a year at a cost of approximately $9.5 million, agency spokesman Adam Lisberg said.

The surcharge will generate an estimated $18 million in revenue while printing fewer MetroCards will save another $2 million or so, according to the MTA.

“We want people to use fewer MeroCards,” Lisberg said. “It’s good for the environment and will reduce litter in our stations. Everyone has had the experience of walking into a station and seeing MetroCards littering the ground. If it costs $1 to replace your card, you won’t see that anymore.”

The Straphangers Campaign is on board with the plan.

"We think the $1 charge for new MetroCards will encourage riders to reuse their cards,” said campaign spokesman Gene Russianoff.

The MTA board approved the MetroCard surcharge during the 2010 budget crisis when the authority also slashed service. It was not implemented last year — and its fate is uncertain this year, too.

Straphangers can avoid the surcharge. A newly purchased MetroCard usually doesn’t expire for about 12 months. And until that expiration date, a MetroCard — including unlimited-ride weekly and monthly MetroCards — can be repeatedly refilled.

And the surcharge would not be imposed when a rider with an expired MetroCard is buying a new MetroCard, Lisberg said.
---http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-proposes-strapping-straphangers-1-green-fee-new-metrocard-article-1.1122750#ixzz21niP5NYb

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(264404)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by Gotham Bus Co. on Fri Jul 27 05:37:44 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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Wasn't that fee was first proposed as part of the 2010 service cuts?

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(264405)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by New Flyer #857 on Fri Jul 27 07:46:42 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gotham Bus Co. on Fri Jul 27 05:37:44 2012.

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Yeah, along with the idea of charging for Student cards, which also disappeared. I like the $1 surcharge on new MetroCards but not the idea of charging for Student cards (and I'm not a student so I speak objectively).

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(264412)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by BrooklynBus on Fri Jul 27 10:58:02 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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You shouldn't be charged if your card has reached its expiration date and you want to transfer the balance to a new card. Because ten you have no choice.

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(264417)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by The Flxible Neofan on Fri Jul 27 12:42:19 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by BrooklynBus on Fri Jul 27 10:58:02 2012.

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I've read that this doesn't apply to replacing expired cards. I don't really like this idea because Metrocards don't really lend themselves to being "permanent"

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(264419)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by Train2104 on Fri Jul 27 12:57:27 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by The Flxible Neofan on Fri Jul 27 12:42:19 2012.

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I will say it again, the plans haven't changed. The fee will NOT apply to...

-Replacing expired or damaged cards
-Cards purchased out of the system (at stores, etc.)

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(264422)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 13:27:27 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gotham Bus Co. on Fri Jul 27 05:37:44 2012.

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It was approved, MTA is in a holding pattern.

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(264426)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by New Flyer #857 on Fri Jul 27 14:42:53 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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Ok. Let's just make it clear.

If you have a MetroCard in your hand right now, or if you buy one at any time before the fee goes into effect, and you treat the card as you would cash (and tend not to lose cash), then you. . .

. . .NEVER. . .

need to pay this fee.

The following are those who can lose out because of this fee:
1) Tourists / Visitors (one time only)
2) People who are too lazy or forget to refill / replace a MetroCard (but if you remember that you have a MetroCard to get on the bus / train with in the first place, then you are capable of remembering that you have a MetroCard that can be refilled such that you can get on said bus / train)

If it wasn't for the tourists and visitors, I'd say make the fee $5. Really nail everyone who is wasting for no reason.

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(264433)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by TERRapin station on Fri Jul 27 15:54:38 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by BrooklynBus on Fri Jul 27 10:58:02 2012.

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You think you know so much but you actually don't. SMDH.

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(264453)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by AMoreira81 on Fri Jul 27 22:31:44 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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What about when one needs to buy a new card because the one being used is defective?

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(264463)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by mcorivervsaf on Sat Jul 28 05:50:22 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by TERRapin station on Fri Jul 27 15:54:38 2012.

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You think you're such an expert, yet you've never worked a day with the MTA, so what does that make you?

Go play outside.

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(264464)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by mcorivervsaf on Sat Jul 28 06:42:07 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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Saw this one on the news, as well. Guess I'll have to reuse a couple of mine before they expire, too. Great. First the advertising space, and now this.

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(264474)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by Railman718 on Sat Jul 28 10:33:34 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by mcorivervsaf on Sat Jul 28 05:50:22 2012.

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Only in his delusional mind.. He had plenty of times to come down here.. Like I said crybabies like him are better off away from here anyway.. He can nope and wrong all he wants let him hate while we laugh..

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(264476)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by mcorivervsaf on Sat Jul 28 11:27:18 2012, in response to Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Railman718 on Sat Jul 28 10:33:34 2012.

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Very true. Everyone here knows it, and so do people on Facebook. He only WISHES he could work for the MTA.

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(264694)

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Re: MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard

Posted by N6 Limited on Wed Aug 1 11:13:11 2012, in response to MTA proposes strapping straphangers with $1 'green fee' on each new MetroCard, posted by Gold_12TH on Fri Jul 27 02:15:45 2012.

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They should implement it asap and use the funds to help introduce the Smart Card system.

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