The cards have serial numbers, but they weren't checked? Seriously? Not even in the nightly audit report? They do a nightly audit report, right?
Billsf showed BART how to run an electronic ticketing system 15 years ago. Of course, he got prosecuted for it. But MBTA could surely have learned a thing or two. Amateurs.
I'm always amazed at the libertarians who freak out at the idea of subsidized transit (which is clearly what this is, even if there's a nominal balance sheet attached) as they drive their cars to work on the road system provided entirely at taxpayer expense.
When did MA repeal its gas taxes, license fees and taxes, and sales tax on auto related stuff?
It's a hypocrisy argument: government subsidies on transportation are bad, except for the method of transportation you use. Some people actually take those buses and subways and have different perspective.
Not so fast. The claim, which I refuted, was "which costs far more to operate and has zero "revenue")?"
Not enough revenue is very different from "zero revenue".
> It's a hypocrisy argument: government subsidies on transportation are bad, except for the method of transportation you use.
Except that I wasn't making an argument - I was showing that your "zero revenue" claim was false.
Note that it isn't at all hypocritcal to say that some subsidies are worse than others. And, when you're arguing for subsidies, you can't argue that all subsidies are bad.
Hiding mass amounts of state debt in the MBTA (along with effectively losing every negotiation with its union and failing to timely increase fares to market value as compared to other major US cities) has sandbagged public transportation in Massachusetts.
The MBTA trains leak when they get wet. Every day there are delays due to "signal problems". There's a major crash on the Green Line annually. Getting the basics of electronic billing is about fourth on the list of things that the MBTA needs to address.