Today’s MetroCard will soon go the way of the subway token.
The “next generation” of subway-swiping will treat straphangers like cars buzzing though E-ZPass tolls, outgoing MTA chief Elliot Sander told The Post in an exit interview yesterday.
Sander, whose last day on the job is today, said that under the plan — which he had planned to announce in the fall — riders would no longer have to swipe through turnstiles or wait on slow-moving bus-stop queues, which would dramatically reduce wait times.
“We’re looking to have a contactless device instead of a MetroCard. Right now, when you go onto the buses, you see lines of people waiting to swipe the MetroCard,” said Sander.
Instead, sensors on turnstiles or near bus entrances would detect a card or key-fob-like device and automatically deduct the fare from bank or credit accounts, he said.
The hope is that one card or device linked to one account could let a rider pay subway, bus and commuter-rail fares along with MTA bridge and tunnel tolls.
Eventually, Sander said, he wants to see one smart card for all MTA, New Jersey Transit and Port Authority tolls and fares.
“It will enable people to get on and get off quickly. The idea is to have an integrated account so that if you have E-ZPass and a MetroCard, it’s one account,” he said.
Sander recently received a consultant report on devices that could be the next MetroCard, and he said he was sorry he wouldn’t be at the helm to see the project through.
“It’s one of the things I’m sad I won’t be bringing around in the fall. I probably would have done that. And so people should be looking forward to that,” he said.
But if his successor gets behind the plan, smart MetroCards could be in straphangers’ hands by 2011.
The MTA is already trying out new ways to collect fares.
On some stations along the Lexington Avenue line, subway riders can wave a Citibank smart card or MasterCard debit key fob to get through turnstiles.
NYC Transit is also offers a MetroCard linked to a bank or credit account, a system proving popular with straphangers.
Sander resigned his position after Gov. Paterson vowed a “widespread cleanup and cleanout” of the MTA.
Sander said it’s likely he’ll return to the private sector. He stressed that trains were on time more often and broke down less during his two years as CEO.
It was announced yesterday that LIRR President Helena Williams will replace him as interim CEO.