Coming soon to a controversial arena near you: the MetroTicket!
Fans headed to the Nets’ new Brooklyn arena are on track to use the same ticket to ride to the game — and get into the stands.
With the Barclays Center’s opening set for Sept. 2012, developer Forest City Ratner and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have begun re-exploring plans to develop a game-day MetroCard that could also be swiped to enter Nets games or a game ticket to be used on subways during game days.
The idea of printing tickets on MetroCards or having tickets embedded with MetroCard technology was first reported by the Post in Dec. 2005.
But negotiations were put on the backburner years ago after lawsuits and the national credit crunch held up arena construction — and the rest of Forest City’s Atlantic Yards project.
Jane Marshall, a senior vice president for Forest City, said yesterday that preliminary indications are “we might be able to put a ticket on a MetroCard but we might not be able to put a MetroCard on a ticket.”
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz later said the proposal offers “intriguing possibilities.”
Another option, officials said, is prepackaging MetroCards and Nets tickets together to fans instead of creating a single card or ticket for dual use.
The distribution of free – or pre-paid — MetroCards to ticket holders is one of several proposals being explored by the Nets and Forest City to cut down on anticipated car traffic to the Prospect Heights arena.
During an Atlantic Yards meeting at Borough Hall yesterday, it was also revealed that 600 of the 1,100 parking spaces in an arena lot would be reserved for cars with at least three or more riders, and that Nets parking would be pre-paid in advance. Moreover, Forest City says it’s considering having designated parking spaces.
Despite the efforts to limit cars heading to Barclays Center, Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), a longtime Atlantic Yards critic, said she expects arena events to jam traffic on nearby neighborhood streets and called on Forest City to eliminate all arena parking.