Crazy Fingers

Yesterday I mentioned the problems I’ve been having with several Metrocards. It happened again today. I used a new Metrocard about four times (the PATH yesterday going to work, the PATH last night going home, the E Train last night going home, then the E Train this morning), then it failed at the PATH turnstyle on the way to work this morning.

I’m becoming convinced this is happening for one of two reasons.

• Contact with, or proximity to, other magnetic strips in my wallet.
• A bad turnstyle at the 23rd Street E/C Station, downtown side.

I found a post in nyc.transit in which the author asserts:

The swipe reader/writer design is a particular work of idiocy, with three independent heads which must be kept in precise alignment and which must *all* be clean in order for the unit to work correctly. The design *guarantees* a much higher failure rate than any other, and ensures that cleaning won’t always solve the problem due to the alignment issues, which don’t appear with a single-head system. Remember: if any head is not clean or is out of alignment, you’ll be told to swipe again. Worse, if the “write” and “reread” heads on a particular turnstile are both screwed up, the *next* turnstile you use won’t be able to read your card. (Emphasis mine.)

That’s why I’m wondering if there’s a specific turnstyle in my life that is ruining my Metrocards.

If you’re curious about how Metrocards use the magnetic stripe, look at this. It’s a reprint from 2600.

On Friday, my Metrocard stopped working. I tried to use it at the Exchange Place PATH station, and it didn’t work (the turnstyle told me to “see agent“). Then, it didn’t work when I tried to get into the E Train in Manhattan. This is the second time in about 2 weeks that a Metrocard with a high balance has stopped working. Before starting my job in Jersey City (and riding the PATH), I never had a problem with a Metrocard.

I mentioned this to some coworkers today, who left together on Friday evening and took the 5 Train from Fulton Street together. The same thing happened to one of them, and they observed other people having trouble with Metrocards in that station.

So what’s up?

• Is my new wallet scratching my Metrocard?
• Are the PATH turnstyles doing something to cause my Metrocard to stop working?
• Given that other people seem to be having problems, maybe there was a shipment of defective Metrocards recently (this is one of my coworkers’ theories)?

Have you noticed a change in the reliability of Metrocards lately?

If you have a problem, by the way, here’s the MTA’s page about solving Metrocard problems.

(Someone who saw a tip I left on Gothamist suggested that this may be related to Mercury going retrograde soon.)

My name is Larry Person.

Larry Person.