MARTA MARTA MARTA!
I should probably mention that I have received my plastic Breeze Card from MARTA. It’s useless to me until my October month pass expires, but November’s pass will go on the card. The November pass will actually be one of the new 30-day passes, not strictly tied to a calendar month like before, which is a nice change, but they could have done that with the magstripe cards.
I noticed this weekend while trolling my logs that one person arrived at my page while searching for “‘Breeze Card’ sucks.” I never stated such a thing, but I think that this is one of my nonsensical referral strings that I should address. As it stands right now, other than the improved fare gates, I do think that the Breeze Card kind of sucks for these reasons:
The machines are difficult to use. Under the old system, when you arrived at a train station, you put money in a machine and you received tokens. It was simple and easy to use. With the new kiosks, it takes several button pushes before you can purchase a fare, making the system more complex and difficult, especially for the visually impaired. Tokens had their weaknesses, of course. I don’t know if token sucking was ever specifically a problem, but I was forced to jump more than one turnstile after it refused to accept a token, and people selling tokens and transcard use was always a problem at North Ave. and likely elsewhere. Simulating the behavior of old token machines is not feasible with MARTA’s intention of charging 50¢ for the short-term Breeze tickets, but I see this as a weakness in the system. It should be as easy as possible to pay for a fare, whether that fare is recorded in a token or a temporary smart card.
The new fare gates are just as broken as the old ones. The old turnstiles were broken pretty frequently, and, though I don’t have any data on relative brokenness of the two systems, I would expect new gates to be completely operational at least for a little while. I find it especially annoying when both wide gates are broken at Medical Center at the same time. Lugging a bike onto MARTA requires the extra wide gates unless I want the system to think I’m tailgating myself, and, while I’m ranting, I really wish that people of an average width not carrying luggage or bicycles would quit using the wider gates. The old luggage/handicap/bicycle gates discouraged use by being of an entirely different form from the turnstiles and by often setting off an alarm even when used properly, but the wider version of the breeze gates is simply a more comfortable looking version of the ones adjacent.
It’s probably kind of expensive. One of the problems that has plagued MARTA since its inception is that, as mandated by a state legislature that would like to see it fail, only 50% of its revenue may be used for operational expenses, the other 50% going towards capital improvements. The law has been temporarily amended a few times, and I believe that MARTA currently uses a 45/55 split, but it stands that the state mandates their budget constraints without providing any funding. This is relevant to the Breeze system since Breeze is a capital improvement and, as noted above, the new kiosks can be difficult to use. This is currently mitigated by dedicated employees providing help and training to confused riders. I don’t know if this is currently covered under the capital or operational portion of the MARTA budget, but it’s going to have to become operational at some point, and the wages of Breeze employees takes money away from MARTA’s basic services.
Transfers are difficult. The habit of most bus riders is to put money into the bus fare machine rather than using any sort of card. During the Breeze transition, transfers are handled as under the old system: paper transfers are provided for bus-to-bus transfers, and magstripe cards are provided for bus-to-train transfers. I imagine that MARTA would like to eliminate the magstripe transfers in favor of Breeze cards, but this can only happen if every bus rider is required to purchase a Breeze ticket when paying in cash. Bus drivers are supposed to be able to sell Breeze services from their console in a manner similar to the kiosk, but this means that MARTA has a choice between continuing to waste money on bus-to-train transfer cards or delaying buses while customers purchase a 50¢ Breeze card for every transfer. The second choice, of course, would further inconvenience riders accustomed to simply paying $1.75 for a ride without the need for extra hardware, and the first choice, which I doubt they will take, will limit the Breeze system’s ability to track rider usage.
The transition from old fare media is a bit sketchy. For the transition from tokens to Breeze, the Breeze machines will accept tokens in exchange for a Breeze ticket loaded with one fare. However, tokens cannot, until the start of 2007, be used to reload existing Breeze cards. Up until the advent of my bicycling, I’d call myself an average infrequent MARTA user, and I’ve found eight tokens laying around from old rides. I’ll probably keep the Superbowl XXVIII one and the shiniest of the regular tokens for the sake of history, but that leaves nine dollars worth of fares that I’d like to spend. Will I be able to convert them into Breeze card fun bucks, spending them as part of a monthly pass, or even be able to turn them into fares on my Breeze card? Should MARTA even allow my former, ideal supposition? I’ve been riding MARTA off and on since 2000, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of those tokens only cost me $1.50. I don’t know the best answer to these questions.
That said, I think that the overall changes of Breeze are good for MARTA. Fare evasion is much more difficult now, and, once the tap-to-exit system is fully deployed, MARTA will have data on rider habits that was impossible with the turnstiles. To add some anecdotal evidence to the positive aspect of this change, the East-West line was notorious for fare evasion as well as inadequate service with four-car trains becoming full before reaching Avondale from Indian Creek. By having more complete entry data (and fees) and knowledge of where these people exit, MARTA will be more able to provide appropriate service where needed. A tap-to-exit system also opens the possibility of distance-based fares. I don’t know if MARTA plans to implement this, but, given the amount of area covered, I don’t think it would be inappropriate to charge someone traveling from Midtown to Arts Center differently from someone taking the bus and train from Alpharetta to the airport. Lastly, having a Breeze card linked to a person rather than using anonymous tokens and magstripe cards allows MARTA to provide a form of theft and loss protection similar to what you would expect from a credit card. I don’t know if anyone was ever mugged for their tokens or month pass, but the fear of such can end with Breeze.
I think that the Breeze smart card system is ultimately a step forward. MARTA still has some crap to work out, and there are some disadvantages to the new system when compared to the old tokens and turnstiles, but Breeze solves some serious problems concerning fare collection and statistics. Tapping a smart card instead of swiping a magstripe card or inserting a token is only a different way to enter MARTA, not better nor worse, and the new system opens up several possibilities for MARTA to improve. I only hope that they take them.