Why no day pass?

[Patrick Boylan]

keithsy, I'm not sure what you mean. It seems as if you think, as M&Eman did when he posted 2 years ago, that New York does not have any unlimited ride passes. All the responses since then say that New York does have an unlimited ride pass. I'll add my 2 cents, it also had them last time I rode Jan 2007.
Did you read any of those intervening posts? Where do you get your information that shows that New York does not have these things, and how is lack of them Mr. Walder and his likes' work?

[nomis]

As of Dec 2010, no more unlimited day passes.

[djlong]

...and no explanation from any officials when people asked "why?"

I was quite fond of the "FunPass" for day trips and weekenders in NYC.

[Allan]

...and no explanation from any officials when peopel asked "why?"

I was quite fond of the "FunPass" for day trips and weekenders in NYC.

The "official" line from the MTA was "lack of use" and also wide-spread abuse.

By abuse they specifically meant that the "fun-pass" was the card of choice for those "entrepreneurs" who would buy several of the cards , then jam up the MVMs and then sell rides to unsuspecting individuals.

[digitalsciguy]

...and no explanation from any officials when peopel asked "why?"

I was quite fond of the "FunPass" for day trips and weekenders in NYC.

The "official" line from the MTA was "lack of use" and also wide-spread abuse.

By abuse they specifically meant that the "fun-pass" was the card of choice for those "entrepreneurs" who would buy several of the cards , then jam up the MVMs and then sell rides to unsuspecting individuals.

Whether or not you want to take them at their word, the MTA management has been quite transparent in recent years and 'The Man' isn't necessarily out to get you. What do they have to gain by lying about cutting 1 day unlimiteds?

Either way, thanks Allan for being the voice of reason and citing the MTA's statement. It's too bad we can't have nice things because of the few profiteers. Walder and appropriate management have been in talks with his last employer, Transport for London, PANYNJ, the MBTA, and various other transit operators in search of and in anticipation of the adoption of an existing and standardised RFID or NFC payment system (likely MasterCard's PayPass or competing system) as a replacement for expensive proprietary fare collection systems. We may see the day pass return when that happens (however far in the future) and especially if politicians and the people in the MTA's service areas wake up, stop beating on the MTA just because it's easy, and properly fund it for its value and utility to the City.

[djlong]

Even though I'm rarely in New York (3.5 hours by car) I might consider more day trips if they brought back the day pass when they adopt Oyster/CharlieCard technology. I'd certainly get a card and pay for the day pass whenever needed.

[RailBus63]

In my experience, one can have a fun and productive day railfanning the New York City subway with a standard discounted pay-per-ride MetroCard.

Even beyond the issues of Fun Passes being abused, the fact is that the MTA and many other transit systems are experiencing financial difficulties in these troubled times. If we railfans want to have strong transit systems to ride and enjoy, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to pay a little more for these services.