[golodhendil]

New York's is also the only subway to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

As a whole system, yes, but lines in Chicago and Philly also run 24 hrs.

Still, I tend to think the costs of zone-pricing outweigh the benefits. Not only can it make subway travel considerably more expensive than it might otherwise be, but it presumably adds more management costs for the subway and more complication (and okay, aggravation) for riders who don't want to get their ticket out every time they leave the subway. I'm not sure fast-paced New Yorkers could stand for the kind of turnstile gridlock that could ensue, in the way that Bay Area or DC riders might be able to.

Hmm, I wonder how the even faster-paced Hong Kongers stand having to swipe in and out of the metro. And making travel more expensive? How does having only to pay 0.50 cents rather than $2-3 to travel a few km's make travel more expensive?

 

[Whoaccio]

I don't really get the point of those RFID tokens some Asian cities use. If you need a payment medium that can handle multiple different trip types and fare structures, wouldn't printable tickets be the more efficient than RFID chips?

 

[golodhendil]

^ I can't comment on the tokens in particular because I have only used it a couple of times and it was all on their subways (so I don't know how they work on their buses), and they didn't seem all that efficient to me. But for RFID smartcards in general, the chips remember past trips, so it can simply deduct accordingly when you switch modes and have transfer credits, even across different fare structures. Boston did it for all transit modes, but they are all by the same operator and had the same fare structure anyway. HK did it for all modes run by all different operators - 3 bus operators, 2 tram operators, 2 (now 1) HRT operators, 4-5 ferry operators, jitneys, etc.

Once all systems are synchronized and all transactions done by the smartcards, there will be lots of flexibilities to play with the fare system, with free/discounted transfers eg from train to bus. Better yet, because HK's Octopus card is so widely adopted, you can have credits from riding transit enough times and apply that on purchases at supermarkets and cinemas, and vice versa.

 

[cacruden]

I don't really get the point of those RFID tokens some Asian cities use. If you need a payment medium that can handle multiple different trip types and fare structures, wouldn't printable tickets be the more efficient than RFID chips?

Actually, I like those RFID chips - they work.

I used them on the Bangkok subway and if you are paying one trip, you put the money in the machine and select the destination - and pay your fare (variable). You tap the RFID chip on the reader on entry, and on exit you "deposit" the chip. If you try to cheat and go further, the exit will block you from exiting until you pay a fare adjustment. The chip is much harder and will not "crinkle" like mag-tape like paper tickets. Works great for what it is used for.