On Jan 3, 11:21*am, SB wrote:
This from Boston. The CharlieCard is an Oyster-type pre-paid cardcard
used in Boston. Ditto Octopus in HKG.

Subject: Expiring CharlieCards causing confusion and frustration

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...arliecards-cau...

For frequent riders, the expiration proves largely invisible: Their
cards
get an automatic software upgrade, and two-year extension, when
swiped. But
irregular riders may find themselves suddenly unable to use their
plastic
CharlieCard. ..

A few weeks ago, reader Irene Gruenfeld of Sudbury and her husband
took
their 5-year-old twins on a stroll through the city with a promise of
a Red
Line ride from Charles/MGH back to their car in South Boston. They had
more
than $10 on each of their cards, but the station gates failed to open,
displaying an "expired'' message. The vending machines presented
similarly
cryptic information. No staff was present, forcing them to buy the
paper
CharlieTickets spit out by the machine, which cost 30 cents more per
ride.

When the CharlieCard was introduced, five years was the industry
standard
for the still-emerging smartcard technology. Manufacturers at the time
recommended a programmed "sunset date'' to stave off problems that
might
arise from frequently used cards nearing the end of their useful life,
he
said. As it became clear the cards could last longer, more recently
issued
CharlieCards have been given sunset dates of 10 years. Most of the 6
million
issued have the longer lifespan, he said.

I've had an Oyster card since May 2004, and it still works. I've
heard of new cards being issued due to some improved security feature,
but when I bought a new annual bus pass last month it was still issued
on the original card. Miss-reads are rare, maybe one or two per
month.

I also have a PATH Smartlink card. When I'm over there I can carry
both cards in the same wallet and the PATH readers read their card and
ignore the Oyster one. However, The Oyster readers will never read
their card if there's a Smartlink card anywhere near it. With this
particular combination of cards it's not really a problem since only
rarely would anybody use both cards on the same day, but with similar
cards being introduced for various purposes it could become a problem
in future. It really shouldn't be a problem to have readers ignore
'foreign' cards, after all, the PATH ones manage to do it.

Mhat are the MTA doing about smartcard ticketing on the Subway and
buses? There was a trial at a few stations when I was there a few
years ago, but that was Subway only, at a time when PATH had started
accepting both Metrocards and Smartlink cards. I would hope that
eventually a card will be introduced that's valid on almost everything
in the area, maybe even for bridge and tunnel tolls.