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MTA Changes Policy Regarding Broken Select Bus Service Fare Machines

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | September 6, 2016 7:20am
 The fare payment machines at the Archer Avenue/153rd Street bus stop.
The fare payment machines at the Archer Avenue/153rd Street bus stop.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska

QUEENS — Straphangers using Select Bus Service lines no longer have to worry if fare machines at their stops aren't working, according to the MTA.

Previously, passengers getting on a Select Bus at a stop where fare payment machines were broken had to get off at the next stop and pay for their ride while the driver waited.

“Customers no longer have to get off at the next stop to purchase a ticket if they encounter a stop without operable machines,” Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the MTA, said in an email.

“They can ride to their destination and purchase a ticket there.”

Passengers using Select Bus Service lines have to insert their MetroCards into machines, which then issue their receipts to allow them to board at any door in order and avoid long lines at the front of the bus.

But according to a recent report from the MTA's Inspector General, fare machines are prone to outages.

There were more than 9,000 such incidents in various neighborhoods in the 12-month period ending July 31, 2015, the report states. Sixteen percent of those outages lasted at least four days.

The machines at the Archer Avenue/153rd Street stop in Jamaica did not work for more then two months, until Con Ed fixed them last Thursday.