I have always wonder when will MTA expand their contact-less smart-card payment trial to the rest of the system everyday when I passed by those special turnstiles. Maybe some of you might not notice them, but trial happens to be at some of my most frequent stations – Grand Central, Union Sq, Court Sq and 23rd Ely Ave, and the rest of the 4/5/6 line. Now the news is that they will extend the trial period indefinitely and expand it to certain bus lines as well. In addition, they will finally allows the 7/30days unlimited option similar to the MetroCard. It’s certainly a good news, but it is not happening fast enough nor wide enough! However, there is hope – MTA is not experimenting with this by choice but by necessity – the current MetroCard system is near the end of life, the vending machines and turnstiles all needs to retire soon. Maybe the threat of not having any machine to charge fares may finally push MTA to put in new technology instead of relying on an obsolete technology from the early 80s that didn’t reach NYC in the mid 90s~

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