Some Thoughts on the Fare Increase

With the fare hike coming up on Sunday, I thought I would share some thoughts about it.

First, for Unlimited ride MetroCards. Nowhere on the MTA web site did it say anything about cards purchased before the fare increase. I sent off an e-mail the other day to the MTA to ask about MetroCards purchased before March 2, and I finally got a response this morning.

Thank you for your email concerning information on how the MetroCard fare increase will impact you.

Unlimited Ride MetroCards currently being used for travel purchased prior to March 2nd will be valid for the full 7 or 30 days, even if some of those days are after the fare change. In addition, customers who purchase an Unlimited Ride MetroCard prior to the fare change can take advantage of a “grace period”, allowing these cards to be used after March 2nd.

MTA New York City Transit will monitor the number of cards in circulation and will announce at a later date the exact duration of the grace period. The MTA and MTA New York City Transit assures its customers that, at a minimum, cards bought for normal, personal use will be valid for their full duration (1, 7 or 30days) as long as the first day of travel is March 10 or earlier.

Sincerely,

Douglas R. Sussman
Director
Community Affairs

That means I can buy next month's MetroCard tomorrow and not have to worry about losing anything extra.

Now, for the pay-per-ride MetroCards. A 15% bonus kicks in starting at $7, which means that if you buy a $7 MetroCard, you get one with $8.05. That's good for four rides, but what about that extra nickel? Don't worry. I know just the place that can help you. The MetroCard Bonus Calculator can help. Just enter the current balance on your card, and the maximum amount you want to add. It spits out every possible combination between zero and your maximum, which results in a whole number of exact fares.

If you want to spare the trip, remember the following amounts:

$15.65 (9 rides)
$24.35 (14 rides)
$31.30 (18 rides)
$40.00 (23 rides)
$55.65 (32 rides)
$64.35 (37 rides)
$71.30 (41 rides)
$80.00 (46 rides)

These amounts will yield a total balance that's a multiple of $2, for the number of rides indicated, given that the card you're adding value to already has a balance that's evenly divisible by $2.

Here's how you do it.

1. Follow the normal steps to add value to a MetroCard or get a new Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard.
2. When you reach the screen where it asks how much you want (to add), touch the Other Amounts button.
3. You are then presented with a keypad where you may enter the desired amount.
4. Proceed as usual.

They will also be selling cards for $17.39 and $52.17 at merchants, which yield $20 and $60, respectively.

It'll be fine as long as you remember the above list and the MetroCard Bonus Calculator link. I suggest you bookmark it for future reference.

Then again, If your MetroCard's balance has $1.75 after using all the rides, you could take a ride on PATH.

Two New iPod Games… It's Strange…

The other day, I was playing chess on my Palm Pilot, and I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if they make a chess game for the iPod?"

A moment later, I think, "You know what, I haven't played Backgammon in a while."

Tuesday morning, I check out the iTunes Store, where lo and behold, there's a new iPod game: Chess & Backgammon Classics. This was like wishful thinking realized. I instantly bought and downloaded it. The controls are a bit weird on the iPod, but given the limitations of the iPod's click wheel, they try to make moving the chess and backgammon pieces as simple as possible by limiting your actions to legal moves. That can be said for both games.

The other game that was released is called Naval Battle: Mission Commander. It's like Milton Bradley's Battleship, but different.

Chess and Backgammon for iPod. They must have been reading my mind.

Speaking of which, sometimes, it seems like you can influence your iPod to play a certain song while shuffling so that it plays sooner than it would otherwise play. Here's what I did.

1. Began playing a song from a playlist, making sure that under Settings, Shuffle Songs was selected.
2. Go back to the playlist that's playing and highlight another song in the playlist.
3. Set the hold switch.

After one other song, the iPod played the highlighted song.

Then again, I tried this again with no success.

Either it only works some of the time, or I have such an intimate knowledge of my iPod that I know what it will play before it plays it.

Winter Break 2008: A Video

Enjoy.

Philly Week Wrap-Up

Well, with the close of Philly Week here on the B24 Blog, I've decided to post some videos of my past experiences.

This first video is a montage featuring my first where I took advantage of NJT to go to Philly.

Click the link to see it!


Next, the winter break video of 2007 has a few.


Finally, one that was posted to the blog a while back, from September 2007.