by dg
Recently I had the chance to ride Hudson-Bergen light rail. The worst part of the experience was the fare machines. They are difficult to use, instructions are not clear even for a transit veteran, don't accept dollar bills every time, etc. I missed a train while fussing with the machine, which gives an option for a combined ticket with PATH and then tells you the function is not yet valid.
Fortunately the trains run every 8 minutes (from Liberty State Park). I feel sorry for anyone using the River Line and watching a train go by while the machine refuses to take their money, because the next train won't show up for 30 minutes.
If light rail must use the proof-of-purchase fare system, why couldn't the fare machines be put on the trains? That way you'd at least be moving while you're trying to pay your fare. Plus there would be less security concerns versus digging your wallet out at an isolated location in the dark. And it would be easier, seems to me, for NJ Transit to fix broken machines if they were all in one place (the caryard at night), versus all over the system.
And can't they put a bill acceptor on these machines that is the quality of those in supermarket self-checkout machines, which I've never seen reject a bill?
Fortunately the trains run every 8 minutes (from Liberty State Park). I feel sorry for anyone using the River Line and watching a train go by while the machine refuses to take their money, because the next train won't show up for 30 minutes.
If light rail must use the proof-of-purchase fare system, why couldn't the fare machines be put on the trains? That way you'd at least be moving while you're trying to pay your fare. Plus there would be less security concerns versus digging your wallet out at an isolated location in the dark. And it would be easier, seems to me, for NJ Transit to fix broken machines if they were all in one place (the caryard at night), versus all over the system.
And can't they put a bill acceptor on these machines that is the quality of those in supermarket self-checkout machines, which I've never seen reject a bill?