Token versus Stored Value Card use in New York City Subway System: Observational Study over Two Time Periods

Abstract

As transportation systems search for ways to improve service and reduce costs, new systems for fare payment are becoming more common. The human throughput at turnstiles of a large number of token and stored value card users was observed in the New York City subway system for 1 week and then for another week after a 6-month interval. The results suggest that magnetic card swipe read/write technologies for fare payment may, at least initially, slow down access to subway platforms and increase entry problems for users. Stored value card users took longer, on average, and showed more variability in throughput than token users. Stored value card users also experienced a fair amount of difficulty in swiping their cards through turnstile readers, although the difficulties decreased after 6 months. Users of cards also differed from token users on a number of demographic variables. With about 50 percent of the ridership served by the new system at the time of the study, the most consistent finding across both study phases was a tendency for males to use the new card-based system more often than females and for Spanish riders to use cards less often than other riders. Possible problems with the voluntary adoption of cards by riders and the need for marketing efforts are also discussed in light of the inability of cards to offer any improvements in terms of ease of use or turnstile entry speed over that of token systems.