Franklinsanity

6:42 am Tuesday, New Haven CT:  seventeen years in, can we give a shout out to the venerable but still durable and amazingly well done MetroCard vending machines?

Growing up in NYC, I hadn’t given much thought to these things since ’99, when I think they were introduced (sorry, too impatient to check Wikipedia, which is a whole other problem). 

At that time, I remember thinking a) that they were cool in their retro massiveness and apparent indestructibility; b) that the touchscreens functioned unusually well; and c) that they were a lot easier to use than, say, the DC metro ticketing technology (which for some reason I continue to find nearly incomprehensible and alarming). 

Now, I have a new appreciation for them. This is not just because, when I return to NYC or its environs, they still work exactly as promised – and their quirky mix of stainless steel and primary colors brings a smile to my face. Rather it’s because they are SO MUCH BETTER than the machines I have to use in SF to purchase or refill my mass transit card equivalent for the ferry. 

Now, many have pointed out to me that the fact I use a machine at all to recharge a commuting card is fairly embarrassing for a tech guy. All that could be happening online. 

But, see, I like the machine transaction. Or rather, I used to. In NYC. Now I am just being stubborn. 

The SF machines are just so bad – their user interface is impenetrable, for one. While, for instance, there are always a few tourists in NYC struggling to order what they want, that is nothing compared to the clumps of rage-filled folks fussing over the SF ferry ticket machines. 

Even if you use them regularly, they still f*** with you. Forgetting about interface design, many of them just don’t work right – buttons stick, card readers fail, and in fact they don’t accept all credit cards. 

It’s as though the Zen of a ferry ride across SF Bay has to have an extra karmic price to it. Whereas the relative hell of an NYC subway ride earns a karmic bonus instead. 

The payment system giveth. And the payment system taketh away.