Fare machines are supposed to increase efficiencies and hold down costs — a perpetual M.T.A. concern, especially when it wants another fare increase.
Meanwhile, New York City officials were finding more and more parkway tokens in their subway fare machines and parking meters, prompting occasional auctions of the tokens they found.
There are times when using the fare machines in the New York City subways seems like an encounter with Arthur C. Clarke's malevolent computer HAL.
They could start preparing fare machines and scheduling delays set for June — unless Albany wakes up and comes to the rescue.
A block away, at the Tsim Sha Tsui subway station, I bought a magnetic fare pass (called the Octopus) with about $13 worth of credit on it, allowing me to avoid the crowds at the fare machines.
Take this week's breakdown of MetroCard fare machines, which rejected riders' credit and debit cards through three consecutive rush hours, beginning Monday morning, when people are likeliest to be cash-depleted, plastic dependent, short-tempered and running late.
The order on Wednesday by Judge Louis B. York of State Supreme Court gave the authority two weeks to reprogram turnstiles, buses and fare machines to the old levels, saying that the authority had violated the law by misleading the public about its finances.
