BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

In A Decade of Unlimited Rides, MetroCard Has Transformed How the City Travels

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
The New York Times
Published: July 16, 2008

The unlimited-ride MetroCard turned 10 this month, a milestone for a thin piece of plastic that has helped usher in a boom in mass transit ridership.

The MetroCard was little more than a substitute token made of plastic. It was not until free MetroCard transfers between subways and buses were instituted in 1997 and the unlimited-ride cards were introduced on July 4, 1998, that the passes fully realized their power to transform the transit system.

Today, many downtown office workers think nothing of hopping on the subway at Wall Street and zipping up to Union Square for lunch. Workers in Midtown might ride a couple of stops to Macy’s to get some shopping done during a break. And the number of people using mass transit on weekends has soared as well, as New Yorkers have embraced the subway and bus as a way to get around during their free time, not just for commuting.

“I think it’s absolutely changed travel habits in the New York region, and it’s been a boon for the economy as well,” said Andrew Albert, who represents transit riders on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“Where once you might have used it more sparingly because you had a finite number of trips, you’re more likely to take a trip during your lunch break, go shopping perhaps or go to dinner somewhere,” he said.

It did not take long for the unlimited-ride cards to catch on.

In the first month they were available, the unlimited cards accounted for 18 percent of all subway and bus trips, said Lawrence R. Hirsch, who heads the office that forecasts and tracks ridership and fare revenues for New York City Transit. By the end of 1998 the unlimited cards were being used for about a quarter of all trips. By 2003 they accounted for about half. They remain at that level today. Most of those who use unlimited cards buy 7-day or 30-day passes; a smaller number buy 1-day or 14-day passes.

At the same time, ridership has swelled. Last year, the average weekday subway and bus ridership was 7.4 million, up from 5.3 million in 1996, an increase of 40 percent. Average weekend ridership, which includes both Saturday and Sunday, rose to 7.7 million last year, from 4.6 million in 1996, an increase of almost 70 percent.

Other factors have fed the increase, including the growth in the city’s economy, the drop in crime and an overall improvement of transit service thanks to billions of dollars of investment in new trains and buses, track and signal equipment and renovated stations. But the unlimited-ride MetroCard has been a major factor in changing how riders use the system.

“We have the highest ridership since April 1950 and there’s a reason for it, and the reason is unlimited-ride passes,” said Gene Russianoff, the staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit rider advocacy group that helped push for the unlimited cards.

At the Union Square subway station, Noeva Wong, 54, a lifelong New Yorker who lives in Manhattan, said she regularly buys a 30-day MetroCard. “I go many more places because the cost of getting around the city is prohibitive if you don’t have an unlimited card,” she said.

Patrick Dougher, 44, who lives in Brooklyn and teaches art at a Manhattan high school, said he uses his weekly card for much more than commuting and does not think twice about jumping on a bus or train. “I do find I use taxis much, much less,” he said.

While the unlimited-ride cards are used for roughly half of all rides on buses and subway trains, because the people who use them tend to take more rides than other straphangers, it turns out that considerably fewer than half of all riders have an unlimited-ride card.

In a survey by the transportation authority last year, about 700 riders were asked how they paid for their most recent transit trip. About 23 percent said they had used an unlimited-ride MetroCard. In contrast, 56 percent said they used a pay-per-ride MetroCard, either with or without the volume bonus. Six percent said they had used a single-ride ticket, and 15 percent said they had paid with coins on the bus.

Mr. Hirsch said recent figures showed that people who use the 30-day pass take an average of about 70 rides a month on subways and buses. But many of those rides occur during what transit officials refer to as linked trips, such as when a subway rider transfers to a bus to complete a journey.

A truer picture, Mr. Hirsch said, is given by a further analysis that shows that, on average, holders of the 30-day pass make 56 linked trips a month. With the cost of a 30-day pass at $81, that results in an average fare of $1.45.

Holders of 7-day cards, which cost $25, make 16 linked trips a week, for an average fare of $1.56.

In contrast, a person who buys a bonus pay-per-ride MetroCard has an average fare of $1.74.

The base fare of $2 is paid by people who buy single-ride tickets, who put less than $7 on a pay-per-ride MetroCards or who pay cash on the bus.

Rebecca White contributed reporting

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[Mr RT]

And there are some who have been collecting those MCs for the past ten years I have over 400 from NYC !

I'm a bit surprised that Larry Hirsch was quoted in the Times as he does know a lot about the subject but is not part of the public relations office.