Originally Posted by
markraby
If you pay for your SBS fare with a Metrocard, transfer data is encoded on your Metrocard just like it would if you boarded any other bus. As such, if you pay for your SBS fare with a Metrocard, then swipe that Metrocard at another bus within 2 hours, your Metrocard won't deduct anything.
Not "any" other bus. The SBS literature says that
you can transfer to a local M15 from an SBS without being charged an additional $2.25. That in fact is NOT true.
The drivers will make you swipe on the M15 local and you'll be charged $2.25 again. So the MTA isn't following its own rules. Why does this matter? Well, if you've paid your $2.25 and you're waiting at the bus stop for an SBS, if one doesn't come but the M15 locals do, you will be forced to pay $2.25 AGAIN if you take the M15 local.
Originally Posted by cordelli
Otherwise nobody will swipe or pay at the fare box until they see an SBS bus coming, which is happening now, because on day one people didn't understand they would be charged twice.
This is what is now happening. People are waiting until they see the blue lights of the SBS before they swipe to get the receipt. What I saw this earlier this morning is that when the bus stopped, people who were still on line waiting to print a receipt just boarded the bus anyway as they weren't about to let a bus go by. No MTA agent was there to stop them.
So unless the MTA puts their cops on every bus, the MTA is giving away its product. Why not make the ENTIRE M15 line SBS?