New fare machines and federal law

Just so you guys know, we here in Canada have gotten rid of dollar bills and pennies now, and the perception is that the only reason you guys haven't done it and save a significant sum of money for the taxpayers is a) Lincoln (because "The West Wing" said so) and b) strippers.

Jersey_Mike wrote:While the UTT's appear to be legal tender they are only exchangeable for transit and almost all other private merchants will refuse to take them.

Sorry, this is complete BS. I've never had anyone refuse a dollar coin anywhere, period.

kilroy wrote:ATM's use to give out other denominations but sometimes the canister switches weren't set correctly and they were spitting out 20's like they were 10's. The bank could finally figure it out but I'm sure a few people ended up with free money. Solution, only spit out 20's.

Plenty still give different denominations.

beanbag wrote:

CNJGeep wrote: I'm an NJ resident, and I don't know what you mean by that. Are you implying that Newark is a dangerous place if you have too many coins in your pockets?

Newark is very dangerous. Especially at night.

I live here (day and night), and no it isn't. Let's start in on where you live.

ryanov, I'm pretty sure Jersey_Mike's post was tongue in cheek, and intentionally full of fertilizer. Or are you implying that refusal to accept the Universal Transit Token is BS, but actually designating these coins as UTT's is not BS?

The designation was clearly tongue in cheek, but I understood him to be calling them such because of difficulty using them anyplace else.

Back when the UTT Mk 2's came out many merchants were reluctant to take them because they didn't fit in with their normal change handling procedures. While few would outright refuse to take them, most would sort of give you the evil eye and others might ask if you have a bill. I'm not kidding about the evil eye. The vendor would sort of stop, look into his hand, poke at the coin, then look back with a "WTF" expression. It's sort of like paying with $2 bills.

I made it a policy to call them UTT's because I only ever got them from transit vending machines and I only used them in transit vending machines. I still keep a stash in my travel bag for when I need a single ride in from some airport somewhere.

dowlingm wrote:Just so you guys know, we here in Canada have gotten rid of dollar bills and pennies now, and the perception is that the only reason you guys haven't done it and save a significant sum of money for the taxpayers is a) Lincoln (because "The West Wing" said so) and b) strippers.

I vote B.

beyond that i need to walk away since anything else i say on the subject is probably not appropriate for a family forum such as this....

As for the specific's of the law law I'd say that capable doesn't mean has to. Many times there's a regulatory agency that is tasked with writing specific rules (aka regulations) to implement the laws that the political hacks write. They also typically will provide interpretation of such laws and any existing enabling regulations. If anyone was super interested you could inquire for an interpretation from whatever regulatory agency charged with implementing that section of the law.

Jersey_Mike wrote: I made it a policy to call them UTT's because I only ever got them from transit vending machines and I only used them in transit vending machines. I still keep a stash in my travel bag for when I need a single ride in from some airport somewhere.

Well, that's you. The last time I got dollar coins as change was in a vending machine in a service area on the Mass Pike. I haven't used cash for mass transit in ages (ok, there was that one time on the M34 in Manhattan last year). I even use light rail tickets purchased at Newark Broad Street for buses if I can help it (too bad you can't buy them at other TVMs). And I don't miss the bad old days at all. Having to go to a physical bank every month and lugging around rolls of quarters, dimes, and nickels because buses don't give change was not pleasant. Or worse, overpaying the fare by 40% when they ran out. And then there was the time I had nothing but twenties...

zakharin wrote:I even use light rail tickets purchased at Newark Broad Street for buses if I can help it (too bad you can't buy them at other TVMs).

Why? At Newark Broad Street, you can buy actual bus tickets. And if you need a bus ticket elsewhere, you can buy a continuing trip ticket at outbound Newark City Subway TVM's. They cost the same as a bus ticket for the same number of zones (I think one two and three are available -- just don't stamp them unless it's an actual continuing trip route).

ryanov wrote:

zakharin wrote:I even use light rail tickets purchased at Newark Broad Street for buses if I can help it (too bad you can't buy them at other TVMs).

Why? At Newark Broad Street, you can buy actual bus tickets. And if you need a bus ticket elsewhere, you can buy a continuing trip ticket at outbound Newark City Subway TVM's. They cost the same as a bus ticket for the same number of zones (I think one two and three are available -- just don't stamp them unless it's an actual continuing trip route).

Because I hardly ever ride the bus to begin with. My trip from Morristown to Hamilton, about once every two weeks, involves getting from Newark Broad Street to Newark Penn Station. I usually take the light rail, but occasionally take (one of) the bus(es) instead. I buy the maximum number of light rail tickets that can be had with a single purchase (I think 9) when I have the chance since I often have to run to catch the light rail and have no time to buy a ticket.

On much rarer occasions I need to take a bus within Morristown, so I use those tickets for that as well.

Not to hijack, but this is a good place for this ...

Last night in NYP & TRE, the TVM's had a scrolling message on them stating that they now gave paper change.

I was in Hoboken a month or so ago and the TVM's there also displayed a similar message. It was something like "NEW! NEW! NEW!" "This machine now gives change in bills"

From the 10/13/13 edition of the rail timetables:

"When using cash, the cost of your transaction will determine the highest denomination of bills accepted (all bills up to $100). Change is distributed in paper money (up to $20) in most cases."