Post by Karen Y ByrdThey're also comparing what Septa does with what other transit
agencies do.
Again, those are mostly "specialists", not everyday riders.
Post by Karen Y ByrdWhy is Septa the only major transit authority left in the
ENTIRE country still using tokens?
Probably because SEPTA was a pioneer in going to the commuter passes,
so its fare collection hardware was newer. Other systems kept their
old glass jar fareboxes, indeed, NJ Transit still was using ancient
fare registers when SEPTA upgraded its buses. And SEPTA's passes are
a form of a smart card.
Also, tokens represent a fare discount for occassional riders not
available with other systems. I went up to NYC enough to keep a few
tokens on hand at home for convenience, but not enough to warrant
buying a full Metrocard to get a discount, and it would expire on me
(as it did to friends of mine.) You only need to buy 2 tokens that
last forever on SEPTA to get the discount, I suggest all other systems
have a higher minimum purchase and lesser expiration date.
Actually, I'm not sure if SEPTA is unique with tokens. Boston still
takes them. I don't know about Chicago or Washington buses.
Post by Karen Y ByrdIf all you or Art says
is true about tokens(I don't necessarily disagree with either
of you about them), why is everyone else giving them up but
us?
1) Because their systems were very old and in need of replacement.
2) Often Phila did not follow the country and to its benefit. Phila
thank goodness never built the proposed freeway system that other
cities did. Phila kept surface streetcars far longer than anyone else
and they were the way to go. (Ironically, _then_ Phila killed off its
streetcars when others were bringing them back.) Phila kept telephone
exchange name and Phila's Bell of Pa service was the cheapest yet
highest quality in the country.
Post by Karen Y ByrdI also, generally speaking, think highly of the, "If it ain't broke
don't fix it", school of thought which is where I think you are
coming from here re: Septa and its fare collections.
That's correct. But my attitude is mainly because I don't want throw
out perfectly good hardware at the cost of millions of dollars for
very little benefit. When today's generation of fareboxes wear out,
go with smart card.
Post by Karen Y ByrdBut, thank goodness, the world doesn't
operate with me running things ! :-) We might not have
had the internet and, subsequently, the world-wide web if
I had been running things! Ken Olsen, the co-founder of the
late great DEC(Digital Equip. Corp.) once made the remark
that he couldn't see a need for a computer-on-a-desk or couldn't
conceive of anyone wanting one.
Perhaps if you were running the Internet we would not have the problem
of virus sabotage, "phishing", identity fraud, spam, criminal
abductions, and the like. I think we'd have a much stronger
(reliable) and safer Internet if you were in charge.
As to Ken Olsen, at the time he made that prediction computers, even
minis, were so enormously expensive yet limited in ability that nobody
forsaw a home market. A $100,000 machine to balance one's checkbook
is overkill.
But at the time, indeed even earlier, there was a strong prediction
that homes would get computer terminals that would do many of the
things the Internet does now. (Oddly, grocery shopping by phone never
took off.) It took about 30 years to get the cost of a mainframe and
disk storage down enough to afford to store tons of stuff on-line as
well as hardware for the home.