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KrzysisAverted t1_iw95vmi wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Just a word of advice (or a very brief rant) by 90sAltRockLover

>It's not possible to keep technology running forever.

Sure it is. What would stop us? The wheel is about 6,500 years old. Is it time we phase that out, too?

As they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

There is nothing worse than change for the sake of change.

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aceofpayne t1_iw9pxk9 wrote

The operating system is OS/2 from IBMand they pushed off the support for it in 2001. It’s a stable legacy system but long term it’s only good tillJanuary 19th 2038 because it’s a 32 bit based. Not to mention the cost to keep up the old outdated metro card machines that break down is costly. This will cut costs and ensure future proofing of the structures since it’s upgradable

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw9st9i wrote

With Metrocards, you can walk into most stations and purchase a card anonymously, with cash, and use it right away.

With OMNY you simply cannot do that. You can either pay with smartphone or credit card (easily tracked, any chance of anonymity is lost) or otherwise you have to go out of your way to find a Duane Reade or other retailer that happens to sell OMNY cards. There may not be one anywhere close to the station. Even if there is, it's definitely not as convenient as having a machine in the station itself.

If NYC cared about its citizens and didn't want to inch towards becoming a police state, it would realize that the "upgrade" (IMO, more of a downgrade) to OMNY removes this functionality--and removing functionality should not be a major side effect of any upgrade/update.

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TeamMisha t1_iwa8iqq wrote

Worry not friend. Take a look on the OMNY FAQ. The roll-out of OMNY includes physical cards which are currently available from retailers as you mention, however, as MetroCards are phased out they will bring online new machines which dispense OMNY cards. They will work the same whereby you can pay cash or credit card. It'd be illogical to remove MC machines, no one wants to "have" to go to CVS to buy their card and reload it manually at a cashier, it's just that they wanted to get physical OMNY cards into the public hands a bit sooner before the machines are ready.

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[deleted] t1_iw970gt wrote

[deleted]

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw98eek wrote

I have a degree in engineering and I'm currently working as a software developer for a large bank.

Do you have any experience in engineering, software development, or anything remotely relevant? Or are you just saying stuff?

Metrocards work fine and there is absolutely no reason we can't keep metrocards running "forever".

If you think we can't then please enlighten me and explain the technical hurdle.

In reality, there is none. OMNY is "change for the sake of change". It's plainly kinda stupid.

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happydemon t1_iw9dbhw wrote

This is a whole lot of opinion. The MTA has long since provided rationale and data supporting the claim that their antiquated fare collection system is costing a lot more than it should, and is cutting into profit. Service & maintenance on ancient ticketing machines is costly, who would have thought. Plus having to offer customer support at many stations in the event the machines fail, which they do and often.

Transitioning to a cashless and contactless fare system is plainly not "change for the sake of change" and this is just a nonsensical claim, considering better transit operators throughout the world have either already implemented it or are in the same process as the MTA.

It's fair (no pun) to raise eyebrows at the implementation cost, though. Just like everything else OMNY rollout was a huge one-off cost and massive boondoggle.

There are many articles like this one.

https://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/archives/610-mta-moves-toward-a-smart-way-to-pay-fares

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[deleted] t1_iw9dwfj wrote

[deleted]

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happydemon t1_iw9eeup wrote

Wow. Don't even need to though, the above response is unbelievable and cringeworthy as someone also in software engineering. Seems like a troll but it's all good and is par for the course on reddit.

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lafayette0508 t1_iwa9knj wrote

and who says farther down in this thread that he doesn't even live in NYC anymore

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw9hkfp wrote

If you can't tell clear satire apart form real technical advice then it seems like a waste of time to try to communicate with you.

Then again, if everything you read seems disagreeable to you, then you start to disagree with everything.

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ThirdShiftStocker t1_iw9syv3 wrote

Also to add on to that, the fareboxes in our buses are becoming increasingly hard to work with, they aren't counting coins correctly in cases, they tend to jam easily and sourcing parts for them is getting scarce. I've seen fareboxes get removed/repaired/replaced constantly. They are so prone to error compared to when I started a few years ago. They can't get rid of them all fast enough. I had someone nearly lose their MetroCard in the fare box on my bus earlier, but I was able to tinker with it to get it out.

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[deleted] t1_iw9ddsz wrote

[deleted]

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw9f84c wrote

>Who is maintaining these ancient systems?

Employees of the MTA, presumably.

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>Security patches?

That isn't a full sentence. Anyway, security patches get released as new security flaws are discovered. A system that gets fewer updates is actually less prone to requiring regular security patches than a system that's constantly changing. If anything, the introduction of OMNY will probably result in tens or even hundreds of times more security patches being required for the MTA's systems than if they'd just stuck with metrocard! Concerns about security patches are an argument in favor of sticking with what's tried and tested, not trying something new.

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>How does it interop with modern hardware?

Why does it have to? Or are you one of those tech bros who thinks that everything should be "IoT" and my microwave and toaster should regularly be getting firmware updates over wifi? Ugh, can't stand that mindset...

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>Who is making old supported hardware?

The same companies that have always been making it. If they go out of business, there will be sufficient financial incentive for someone else to step up to the task.

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>How much does keeping this working cost over a new system?

Depending on the cost of the upgrade... likely, much less. Plus, cost isn't the only factor to consider. The default implementation of OMNY (using credit card or smartphone with NFC) offers far less privacy than a metrocard. You can't buy an OMNY card at every station the way you can buy a metrocard; you'd have to go out of your way to do so.

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>Will payment processors allow it?

They've allowed it so far. And they allow much older systems to operate. Why would they object to it?

If there's anyone here who is "confidently incorrect", it's you.

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[deleted] t1_iw9fx3c wrote

[deleted]

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw9gla4 wrote

You can try to write off that lack of knowledge as a "lack of will". Then again, for all I know, maybe it's both.

Have fun embracing every new technology as change for the sake of change, and see where that takes you. I'd rather live in a world where I can go to an MTA station, buy a MetroCard with cash, and use it right away.

NYC's ignorant embrace of OMNY is one of the (many) reasons I'm happy to not be living in NYC anymore. Sixteen years was enough for me.

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[deleted] t1_iw9hidd wrote

[deleted]

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KrzysisAverted t1_iw9i0kx wrote

No idea what you're on about.

>Hopefully you get a reality check and realize being an insufferable self aggrandizing tool won't actually get you anywhere before it's too late.

Are you projecting your own failures? Did this happen to you when you were younger, so you just assume that everyone else will have the same miserable experience?

Well, it's okay! Keep doing whatever the city tells you to do. If that's what you've been doing all your life, it might be hard to kick the habit. So I have some sympathy.

Have fun following the crowd and using OMNY, lol.

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huebomont t1_iwafs09 wrote

there is a huge reason and it’s that the MTA doesn’t have in-house resources to keep it running. It’s not like they built this from the ground up, it’s using other companies’ software which they don’t support anymore.

I can’t believe that you’re an engineer who doesn’t get this.

But I can believe you’re an engineer who would be incredibly pedantic about “can’t” versus “unable to in any practical sense.”

Which bank do you work for?

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