Originally Posted by
kebosabi
[ot]
I'm surprised no one in Boston said why a person going only 2 stations should be forced to pay the same fare hike to $2.00 when someone in Braintree going all the way to Alewife gets a better deal because they can cover 20 miles for only $2.00. In a way, it's like people who ride shorter distances subsidize those who have longer trips.
Sooner or later, more fare hikes will bound to happen and there will be a limit to how much people will be willing to pay for a ride regardless of distance. IMO, $3.00 flat rate is the upper limit they can reach because by then, people will not expect to pay the same price whether they travel a mile or 10 miles. [/ot]
Yes, but there is also the hassle and extra time involved with tapping your card twice instead of once, plus you have to keep track of the prices for each different route (tourists can't just say "I think I'll use 6 rides" and load $12). How often does anyone ride directly from Braintree to Alewife? It's got to be a very small percentage of total riders. If the overwhelming majority of rides are within a reasonable percent higher or lower than the mean distance, then it's simpler to just equalize everything. A small percentage of riders get subsidized, a small percentage get ripped off, and everyone else saves a lot of trouble.
Looking at this in the context of EMV, does anyone know if the EMV could "remember" where you tagged onto the system, so that when you tag out it knows how much to charge? If there is a flat charge then using EMV at the point of entry (and eliminating the proprietary transit cards altogether) would be feasible, but can it be done with distance-based pricing?