The MTA’s outgoing chief, Elliot Sander, has revealed that there are plans in the works to totally revamp the current MetroCard system by 2011. Instead of the cumbersome swipe cards we currently use, subway and bus riders would have something akin to an E-Z Pass, which would automatically charge them as they passed by. The same pass could be used for commuter rails, bridges, and tolls, and eventually even New Jersey Transit. Obviously, this would be a vast improvement in the way we travel. Imagine never again having to wait impatiently behind someone on the turnstile line who clearly hasn’t yet mastered the precise swiping speed required of them. Or being able to catch that train that you would have missed because you had to wait your turn in line. It would be a less stressful, more efficient, better world. We just wonder, with one widely opposed, makeshift bailout and staff reductions already in the books, and a massive budget shortfall still looming, how in the hell they plan to pay for it.
