New York Sign Language Symbol of a New Age: New York's Metrocard By BOB YAMPOLSKY	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
N.Y.　都市交通に新サービス N.Y. の地下鉄とバスでは、長い間、切符の代わりにコインの形をしたトークンが使われていました。そこへ交通局が2年前に磁気カードを導入。割引サービスの効果もあって乗客が増え、汚く危険と言われ衰退しかけていた地下鉄システムが息を吹き返しています。

This thin plastic card the size of a credit card, the MetroCard, is the way most New Yorkers now pay their subway and bus fares. It is, without exaggeration, the single greatest innovation in New York City mass transit in the last half century (granted, it is probably the only innovation in New York City mass transit in the last half century ).

The history of paying for mass transit rides is dominated by the token. Tokens are the coins you buy at the token booth in the subway station. Once, they cost a nickel; now they cost $1.50. You drop one in the slot and then push through the turnstiles. Generations upon generations of New Yorkers have gotten on the subways this way, and for past 25 or so years we've been able to use them on buses.

The MetroCard, which was first introduced two years ago as an alternative to the token, eventually will replace the token completely. Personally, I like tokens. They are solid things with a definite value. But for the Transit Authority they present plenty of problems. It is easy to use slugs in their place. The turnstiles are easily vandalized. And it takes a lot of time and labor to sell, collect, count and otherwise deal with tokens. A card that takes care of fares electronically makes a lot of sense.

Here is how the MetroCard works: You buy a card for any dollar amount you chose. A token booth clerk, using a computer, puts this amount on the card. Every time you use it — either dipping it in the fare box on a bus or swiping it on a subway turnstile — one fare ($1.50) is deducted from that amount. When the card runs low, you put more money on it.

The problem with this is, it's good for the Transit Authority, but there's no great benefit to riders. And if there's no great benefit, why change from the trusty token that you know how to use to a flimsy piece of plastic you've never used before? (MetroCards are awkward for someone who has never used them. You pass one through too quickly or too slowly, or you hold it the wrong way, and the machine tells you "PLEASE SWIPE AGAIN.") In the MetroCard's first several months, only about 10 percent of riders used it.

But then came an innovation that offered a major benefit for riders: If you use your MetroCard, you can transfer from the subway to a bus (or vice versa) for free, so instead of two fares you pay one. Ridership increased, and more and more people used MetroCards.

A few months later came the next innovation: For every 10 rides you buy, you get an 11th ride free. The MetroCard discount was the first fare decrease in the history of New York City mass transit. Ridership jumped, and 70 percent of riders started using the MetroCard.

The latest and perhaps boldest innovation came this July 4: the introduction of the unlimited ride MetroCard. These are 7- and 30-day passes, which sell for $17 and $63 respectively. The 7-day pass is a good deal — cheaper than the 11-rides-for-10 discount or the pay-per-ride card — if you take 13 or more rides in that time. The 30-day pass is a good deal if you take more than 47 rides in that time. The number of bus and subway riders is expected to swell.

There is, admittedly, just one small problem with the success of the MetroCard: The Transit Authority has not planned any significant increase in bus or subway service to meet the new demand. This means that all those new riders will have to find space in buses and subways that are already packed.

The MetroCard's significance can be measured in more subtle ways, too. With tokens, being street smart meant having enough tokens in your pocket, so you could hop on a bus or a subway without having to wait on line to buy them. With the MetroCard, however, being street smart has suddenly become a much more complicated matter. Not only do you have to check that you have enough money on your card, but you have to be able to do the math to figure out which card (pay-per-ride, 7-day pass, 30-day pass) is the best for you. And you have to remember all the various conditions and differences. You can use the pay-per-ride MetroCard for four people at once, but the unlimited rides MetroCard can be used for only one person at once. The passes expire at midnight on the 7th or 13th day from when you started using it, etc. In other words, the MetroCard is forcing New Yorkers to graduate from the simple 19th century technology of tokens to the complex, information-intensive digital technology of the late 20th century.

Not that long ago, New York was broke and in bad shape. Nothing symbolized the city's plight more than the subway system, which was dangerous, dirty, derelict and seemingly on the verge of total collapse. Thus the transformation of the subways into a reasonably safe, reasonably efficient and reasonably modern system is nothing short of miraculous. The thriving subways are, I feel, the best symbol of New York's current renaissance. And the symbol of the subways' revival — representing their improved service, reduced fares and legions of new riders — is the MetroCard.

Shukan ST: July 31, 1998

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