On Wed. Nov.21/2001 I bought a $63.00 unlimite Metro Card to the vending machine at Dyckman Station. Serie #0544285103. I Sent back on 12-07-01 to New York,City Transit,370 Jay Street,Brooklyn,NY 11201 and to this date I have any answer to this matter. The following two week and waiting for, I acquired two $17.00 unlimited and finally I bought the last one per $63.00 dollar on Sunday December 23rd.2001. This one ending on January 21st according with the bus display. I love this system and always I use to,since the implementation two year ago but, How more time I have to wait or how to contact the person in charge. I thing It is enough time to waiting for. Have a nive New Year 2002.
Reven2002@aol.com

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The ExBus Metrocard allows you to ride on the new $3/trip express busses. They are just like regular MTA busses, but they have less stops and they tend to travel on faster roads. For example, the x25 service between Grand Central Terminal (midtown) and the World Financial Center (downtown) runs down the FDR Drive. Other services (x27, x28, x29, x37, x38) run to Brooklyn via the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Gowanus Expressway. So now you know :-)

I am planning to visit New York soon and use the subway. I only have experience with the (much simpler) London Underground system. Thanks to your article I now know how to use these machines! Just one question, are these machines available at every station? The MTA official site states that the $4 Fun Pass is not available at every station but only from MetroCard machines and MetroCard merchants. If there is a vending machine at every station, then surely the Fun Pass is available from every station?!

I figured out the Metrocard machines pretty quickly. I’m not a very smart person, and I don’t see the point in the Metrocard screed on this Web site. However, I do like the coins better… I am buying as many of them as possible for when the fares go up in price.

Just a few:
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" * Avoid gratuitous steps like the wake-up call."
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Subway stations are open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. They make you hit start to let the machine know to get out of ‘screen saver’ mode, so there isn’t instant screen burn-in. Yes, you can get screens where this isn’t a problem. But they cost a lot more. Do you want to pay higher fares for better screens? I don’t. Also, the inert screen can be used for advertising, and ……public announcements, like service changes. That’s useful. Haven’t you ever noticed the changing displays on the machine?
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"* If 90% of the population is likely to be okay with a choice (lanuage [sic], in this case), then see if you can get away with assuming this choice, and only have the 10% actively choose something else. This is especially true if the choice doesn’t have very grave consequences."
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But English is not the primary language for 90% of NYC’s population. Spanish is the primary language for 40-50% of the people here. No joke. Here’s a known user issue- people will walk away from the machines if they see the ‘wrong’ language displayed first or feel that it won’t work in ‘their’ language. Hispanophones are unlikely to use what appear to be English-only machines. The language menu is also DIFFERENT depending on neighborhood, just like ATMs….which all function in the same way, so it’s going to be a familiar user experience for most people.

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" * Don’t ask the user to choose between things when he doesn’t know the difference or the consequences of his choice."
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You don’t know what the ExBus pass is (here’s a crazy idea- ask the Token Clerk). But everyone who rides the express bus does. Therefore, you don’t need to know what it is to get to your destination. Since you live here, you are unlikely to need the One-Day FunPass, designed for tourists. You seemed to be able to figure out how to buy what you need. Guess what? The city does not revolve around you or your needs. There will be options you will be unfamiliar with since you do not need them.
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" * If there are two options, and one of them turns out to be impossible, let the user try the other one. Don’t cancel. The user probably still wants to ride the train, even though his current card couldn’t be refilled for some technical reason unknown to the user."
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I always buy my (Monthly) cards one day ahead of time. Therefore, I do NOT want to ride the train. If I pick up a card for someone else, I do NOT want to ride the train. If I buy the card on my way home, exiting the station, I do NOT want to ride the train. These are not esoteric situations.
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Also, like an ATM, it’s important to cancel after an impossble request- it’s a big clue to the user that he/she need not worry- THEIR CREDIT CARD HAS NOT BEEN CHARGED, (or, alternatively, their current card has not been devalued/eaten) since the transaction is not complete. What you are suggesting is much more ambiguous. Haven’t you ever noticed the machines function almost exactly like ATMs (for good or ill)?
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Again: the MTA does not revolve around you or your needs. Do not assume that your usage is the majority’s usage of the system.
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However, I did like your revised screen design. It does look like it will save time.

I was in NYC this past Sept. and used the Metrocard machines for the first time. Now, I’m not a native New Yorker, but I did live in NYC from ’91-97 so I’m used to dealing with the subway. Let me tell you, these machines are a dream come true for any commuter on NYC Transit.

And I was able to use the machine the first time in under three minutes to get my card (and the second time was to replentish my ride value). What does this tell me? The machines work and the UI does what it needs to do (and helps the user attain a card quickly) with minimal fuss.

FYI: I went to grad school at NYU’s ITP with Sigi Moeslinger who designed the software interface (www.antennadesign.com).

I use them often, and have always been impressed by how easy and fast they are to use. I can refill me card in probably 30secs. I am impressed by the design and completely disagree with your assessment. I believe in this case a heirachial design works well, as i am only forced to make one decision at a time, instead of your screen design where I have to read the entire screen to make a selection. With the current machines, i only need to make one decision at a time as the screen refresh is so fast, there is no negative aspect to this. I agree there may be some improvements to make in the descriptive area, but I also believe your assessment was made with little knowledge of the actual user base – did you observe people or are this your own critique?

I agree with the original commentator. Rather than providing two styles of interaction, one for experts, and another for novices, they did a midway approach to try to serve both, and in the process compromised the UI for both types of users.
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I consider myself an "expert" user of these machines. I do freelance work and my subway needs vary a lot – sometimes I get a day pass, sometimes a single ride, sometimes a week pass, sometimes a $15 card. I’ve been riding the subway for years. I use the machines frequently. I understand the options.
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Yet I -still- find frequent occassions when I have to cancel out my transaction and start over from the beginning (even restating my language choice) because I was mislead by the menus and went down the wrong path. I have to re-read and re-learn the steps each time. I still use the human ticket sellers whenever there’s a choice and a train is approaching – buying from a person is simply much faster.
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As a frequent user who understands the fares, it drives me crazy that it takes seven steps (which I have to read carefully to avoid screwing up) to do what feels should be a three step process – select type of card, pay, get card. For a frequent user, a denser UI would be much more suitable – e.g. a list showing showing all the ticket options, with associated prices would be better than a series of badly worded questions.
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For infrequent users, the current UI design wisdom is that you should offer a task-based "inductive" UI with plenty of explanations and a nice big Back button to backtrack if you go wrong. The subway kiosk fails to do this too. In an effort to make it look simple, they oversimplified, and produced a UI with terse jargon-laden language and no explanations. I’ve all too often had to explain to the person in front of me how to use the machine. Infrequent/new users find that the options are too terse and lacking in help.
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I think they should support two modes of interaction – one for frequent users, and a different one for infrequent users. You can do this by using one style as the default, and offering a button at the bottom of the page for switching to the other (e.g. an "Advanced" button or a "Please help me choose" button).
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[I think language choice should be integrated into the "Start" step, and not be a separate step. (e.g. the word Start could be shown in several languages) or offered as an optional choice on the botton of the screen.]
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Jon