[Sigia-l] NYC Metrocard Vending Machines

[Stephanie Heacox]

Adam,

As a longtime resident of NYC, I've been using these card machines since
their inception, and I wanted to address each of your points individually:

- There was no interface option to "reload" a Metrocard with added value,
which is presumably one of the primary benefits of a durable, stored-value
system.

That option is absolutely available, and much to my surprise, the card
material is durable enough to accommodate a great number of refills.

- An option that *is* offered is the paperstock "one-time use" Metrocard, a
mayfly object which has all the melancholy of a Basho haiku: you buy it, use
it to pass through a gate five feet away, and immediately deposit it in a
trashcan. I fail to see how this is preferable to a token, which is at least
recoverable and reusable.

I recall that this option was offered when the system launched, because the
MTA wanted to accommodate infrequent or lower income users who needed to buy
one ride at a time.  I know that you can now get $3.00 passes, and I'm not
so sure about the $1.50.  I also know that the $3.00 tickets are refillable,
again not sure about the single rides.  The MTA announced today that they
are considering (again) complete abandonment of the token system to save
money.  That's kind of a shame since they've already replaced all the old
turnstiles with machines that can accept both tokens and cards - I'm curious
what the difference in cost would have been if they'd contracted for card
only machines.  Whatever it was, I imagine it was worth the cost of having
backup and fostering user acceptance, because transitioning riders to the
bug-ridden original card system would have been disastrous.

- After the $1.50 one-time use card, the machine only permits the purchase
of Metrocards in $10.00 increments of value. Since I've often found it
convenient, for whatever reason, to purchase cards in $3.00, $4.50 and $6.00
increments, I found this onerous.

There are many more options offered now, ala ATMs - I believe that you can
even select the exact amount you want, but I will have to look the next time
I fill up my card, since I always use a standard selection.

- As a matter of physical interface design, both the height and placement of
the cash slot were problematicly nonobvious.

I would have to agree with you there.  I recall that the first time I used
cash, I had to take a moment to locate the cash slot.  Then again, I was
refilling a card, so the fact that the card slot was on the far right and
the cash slot in the middle seemed unintuitive.  But I realized that it's
really true only in that instance - anyone buying a new card would want them
in that order.

- Finally, although I suppose this is a matter of personal preference, the
machines are simply ugly. While the Dieter Rams-ian sheen of BART's machines
lacks a certain humanity, and the desire for a minimal interface coupled to
1970's display technology forces some poor usability decisions, I can't help
but regard those as aesthetically far better resolved that these oddball
yellow-green-black-and-blue boxes.

While I hesitate to step into my Creative Director's shoes, I have to say
that I rather like the color scheme.  The units themselves are 95% stainless
steel, and the three color mode serves to divide each of the major process
sections of the interface with a certain kind of logic:  Intro area in MTA
blue, Cash input in green, and (yellow) card output in (you guessed it)
yellow.

Another key advantage of the machines is that they give you receipts, which
the token booth clerks do not.  When I was messing with reimbursable
transportation accounts at a previous employer's, that was very handy.

I've only had two real issues with the card system, and they are
process-oriented:  when they were first introduced, the readers were very
finicky and you could stand there swiping your card for several minutes in
complete futility - that has been vastly improved.  The second issue is
developing as more and more token booths are closed on a regular basis - the
automated ticket entry gates work in both directions, and are rarely set to
reserve one gate solely for entrance.  Thus, when heavily populated trains
disgorge, their passengers can tie up all the gates for an extended period,
as incoming passengers watch their trains go by, unable to enter.

So yes, the system isn't perfect, but count me as a fan of these machines,
overall.

Steph

Stephanie Heacox
Director of Information Architecture
Orbis2 Partners, LLC
direct (718)436-2505
cell (917)797-0719
fax (516)908-3677
stephanie.heacox at orbis-2.com
www.orbis-2.com