The metrocard machines are playing tricks on me!

So I go to put 10 on my card, new thing asks me something about a different amount, after I've selected $10. I ended up putting 20 on the card, that extra 10 was for 3x septa tickets from trenton, so now I can ride PATH all day but can't get back to levittown when I need to.

- A

When I did the math, it seemed to me that the discount on the PATH farecard is better than the discount on the Metrocard. At least after you eat the one-tiem $5 charge for the farecard.

Why would I want to use a Metrocard instead of the PATH farecard?

If you buy the rides in 20 or 40 ride increments, the price/ride works out to be $1.30.

I haven't used a Metrocard since. I only keep it now for when I go into the city to ride the subway.

Even the 10 ride purchase gets you the buck-thirty price. I usually buy 20 rides a pop for $26, but 10 rides for thirteen bucks is still an available option.

A metrocard givesa 15% premium (when you put more than eight bucks on it), and you get dinged the the face value of $1.75 per ride. Ten rides is $17.50 on its face value, for which you're paying thirteen bucks on the PATH fare card. That's just a shade under a 35% premium. A PATH farecard twice as much of a discount as a metrocard, over the cash pare.

As far as I see, the only reason to use a metrocard is if you're not a regular PATH rider, but have a pay-per-ride metrocard with some money on it. That way, at least you get to take advantage of the 15% premium value of a metrocard, instead of paying full fare for a single-ride PATH ticket.

I use the subway a lot sometimes. Coming up in june is a mets game, might use it for the trip home on the 7 to E to WTC if they win.

- A