For the second straight day, malfunctions disrupted credit- and debit-card purchases at MetroCard vending machines, rejecting riders who tried to pay with plastic.
Worse, some unlucky riders got charged for MetroCards they never got – although NYC Transit promised prompt refunds.
Transit officials described the incident as a “painful glitch,” which may have left thousands of commuters struggling to buy MetroCards during the height of the morning rush hour.
A spokesman for the agency said the error occurred in a communications system between the machines and an outside vendor that processes the charges.
The spokesman added, “We don’t think it should be” a problem for a third day. “We think the fix they put in should hold.”
Commuters found some vending machines unable to accept their credit cards for about two hours during Monday’s morning rush and again between 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., officials said.
The problem was made worse because staffed booths accept only cash.
The trouble surfaced again yesterday between 7:45 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.
“Some transactions are going through, others are not,” an official said.
In April 2008, MetroCard vending-machine sales totaled $157.3 million – and debit- and credit-card purchases accounted for 62 percent of all revenue collected by them, according to NYC Transit figures.
“It’s on ongoing problem,” sad MTA board member Andrew Albert. “It’s a concern that it’s lasting so long. People need to be able to buy fare.”
Albert said another distressing aspect of this week’s breakdowns was the scope. Every once in a while, machines in limited geographic areas will act up, but this week’s problems were was systemwide.
NYC Transit also sent out an alert yesterday informing riders that if they were charged on purchases that were disrupted by the glitch, they would be paid back.
“If you were charged as a result of these outages, a credit will be issued to your account,” the notification stated. “This credit should appear on your account within seven to 10 business days.”