MetroCard Fare Change Information

[David Cameron]

I am trying to gather some information about MetroCard Pay-Per-Ride spending/purchasing limitations as they will stand following the March 22nd fare increase. If anyone has any figures for the following I would appreciate learning of them. I am listing what I believe to be the current numbers next to their descriptions. If I'm mistaken about any of these, please feel free to correct me!

Thanks,

David

	Prior to 3/22/2015	As of 3/22/2015
Minimum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard	$4.00
Maximum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard	$80.00
Minimum amount added to a MetroCard before a bonus is given	$5.50	$5.50
Maximum Value of a MetroCard
Bonus Amount	5%	11%
Cost Per Ride (Normal)	$2.50	$2.75
Cost Per Ride (Reduced)	$1.25	$1.35
Funds to be added must be made in increments of	$0.05
Express Bus Fare		$6.50
Express Bus Fare (Reduced, Off-Peak Only)		$3.25

Many

[Aaron Donovan]

David, this information is all available with one click away from the MTA.info homepage.

Existing fare are on the "fares" tab: http://web.mta.info/fares/ 

The new fares as of 3/22/15 are listed in the headline "New Fares and Tolls Effective March 22", which leads you here: http://web.mta.info/mta/news/hearings/2015FareTolls/FaresNYCT.html 

[Jeremy Baron]

Hi,

On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 7:54 PM, David Cameron
<davidcam...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am trying to gather some information about MetroCard Pay-Per-Ride spending/purchasing limitations as they will stand following the March 22nd fare increase. If anyone has any figures for the following I would appreciate learning of them. I am listing what I believe to be the current numbers next to their descriptions. If I'm mistaken about any of these, please feel free to correct me!

The old minimum threshold to get a bonus apparently was $5.

new fares with a table (but doesn't answer all your questions):
http://www.mta.info/news-fares-tolls-board-subway/2015/01/22/customers-who-use-mta-most-will-see-lowest-increases

current old fares: http://web.mta.info/nyct/fare/FaresatAGlance.htm

-Jeremy

[David Cameron]

Aaron & Jeremy,

Thanks so much for your rapid responses. I really appreciate that.

Most of the information that I was/am looking for is on the pages you both linked to, and that's where I got the info already in the table, but a few pieces of information weren't there.

I'm still trying to determine

1. The minimum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard (as opposed to the minimum you'll have to pay for a new card)
2. The maximum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard
3. The maximum value of a MetroCard (Can I have a MetroCard with $5,000 on it? Or is it capped at, say, $150?)
4. The increment that funds added to an existing MetroCard can be added.

I'm assuming that the last figure is still going to be $0.05 given the suggested purchase amounts on the linked pages, but I'd love to get this confirmed.

Many thanks,

David

[Patrick O'Hara]

I believe there is not much in terms of MetroCard specifics changing with this fare increase, just the bonus that is added on when you purchase it and the fare that is deducted when you use it.

As to some of the things you have on your table: the minimum amount you can currently add to a MetroCard is $0.05, however, to get a new card I believe you have to start with at least $5 on it.  You can add up to $100 to an existing MetroCard at a MVM ($80 at station booths), and I am not aware of any upper limit that can be kept on the card, though it's probably not wise to keep large sums of money on a regular MetroCard.  A bonus is given after $5 is added now, with the new fare increase the bonus will be given after you add $5.50.  Fares still must be added in incriments of $0.05, since the MVM's won't be modified to accept or dispense pennies.

On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 3:07:16 PM UTC-5, David Cameron wrote:

[David Cameron]

Patrick,

Thanks for your reply. I went and did some manual testing on MVMs today and yesterday and was able to draw a couple conclusions

• The minimum amount you can add to a Pay-Per-Ride card is $0.05 (I had been mistaken about this previously)
• The maximum balance an MVM will allow you to have on your card is $100. Trying to add an amount which would put it over this results in "Invalid Amount"

I don't know if these values will remain the same as of the 22nd, though I don't know why they would. I would still very much like to get these figures validated by someone at the MTA. Getting an app approved by Apple usually takes at least a week, and while I don't think anyone will be too sorely put-out I would love not to have to re-submit right after this goes live.

Thanks,

David

Prior to 3/22/2015

As of 3/22/2015

Minimum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard

$0.05	$0.05

Maximum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard

$99.95 (But no more than $100 total)	$99.95 (But no more than $100 total)?

Minimum amount added to a MetroCard before a bonus is given

$5.00	$5.50

Maximum Value of a MetroCard

$100.00

$100.00?

[Aaron Donovan]

David,

I spoke with our MetroCard folks and got these answers.

What is the minimum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard (as opposed to the minimum you'll have to pay for a new card)?

The minimum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard at a MetroCard Vending Machines (MVM) is 5ȼ (cash transactions) or $1.00 (credit/debit transactions). At the booth, 1ȼ (cash transaction) can be added.

 

What is the maximum amount that can be added to an existing MetroCard?

The policy for the booth is $80.00 + bonus. At the MVM's the maximum amount that you can added is up to $100 including bonus.

 

What is the maximum value you can store on a MetroCard (Can I have a MetroCard with $5,000 on it? Or is it capped at, say, $150?)

Currently, the maximum value you can store on a MetroCard is $100, which includes the bonus amount.

 

What is the increment that funds added to an existing MetroCard can be added?

The increments that can be added to an existing MetroCard is 1ȼ (cash transactions) at a booth, 5ȼ (cash transactions at an MVM) or $1.00 (credit/debit transactions at an MVM).

Out of curiosity, what kind of project are you working on?

Thanks,

Aaron

[Jeremy Baron]

On Mar 7, 2015 2:02 PM, "Aaron Donovan" <adon...@mtahq.org> wrote:
> The increments that can be added to an existing MetroCard is 1ȼ (cash transactions) at a booth, 5ȼ (cash transactions at an MVM) or $1.00 (credit/debit transactions at an MVM).

The credit/debit number doesn't sound reasonable. Why not 1¢ like cash at booth?

-Jeremy

[Samuel Wong]

Like buses, riders/customers will bring bags of pennies and the machines will be filled with them. The MVMs have a limit on coins as well, but if every passenger brings 50 pennies, the machines will jam.  Furthermore, that would require more maintenance on machines.  Transit sends out crews to each machine and station every month or so to perform maintenance and collect the revenue.

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[John L]

Aaron, could you field this question? This seems more like a policy issue rather than a technical one.

Thanks,

John

[Aaron Donovan]

John, will do.

Sam, he was asking about credit and debit cards, not cash.

Jeremyb, I'll double-check the credit/debit minimum increment at MetroCard vending machines.