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The metrocard machines are interesting not just because they are easier to use then any other subway kiosk I’ve encountered but that they are unhackable. People

The metrocard machines are interesting not just because they are easier to use then any other subway kiosk I’ve encountered but that they are unhackable. People have been trying to beat them since they were first installed and the closest anyone ever got, that I am aware of, is if you crease the card in just the right way so that the turnstile can detect the magnetic signal but bit read it entirely, it will let you through after swiping four times. Though supposedly the MTA cops know this trick and look for people with creased cards - in minority neighborhoods anyway. The cards themselves seem to have no stored value but instead point to a record in a central database.

assttoasstmgr 4y ago
Or that much of the system ran on OS/2: https://tedium.co/2019/06/13/nyc-subway-os2-history https://tedium.co/2019/06/13/nyc-subway-os2-history
- nycdotnet 4y ago
  I had not heard this part - the article implies that the systems that connect the turnstiles to the mainframes run OS/2. Pretty neat. The machines that are the topic of the article (the MetroCard machines themselves) still run Windows NT 4. Blue screen shot from 2016: https://twitter.com/nycdotnet/status/750737744356319232 https://twitter.com/nycdotnet/status/750737744356319232
  - classichasclass 4y ago
    And one that bombed out to a DOS prompt: https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1unxbe/in_case_you_were_wondering_it_appears_metrocard/ https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1unxbe/in_case_you_wer...
user3939382 4y ago
There’s a guy that reverse engineered them but he would only describe the broad strokes. Part of the system works with the value stored on the card so there is a way to get free rides but it’s not easy to figure out. https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/attachments/594-paper_MagneticStripeTechnology2.pdf https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/attachments/594... https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/765.en.html https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/765.en.h... https://blog.yossarian.net/2016/07/17/Decoding-the-Metrocard-Part-2 https://blog.yossarian.net/2016/07/17/Decoding-the-Metrocard...
acomjean 4y ago
I am a not I frequent visitor to NYC (i lived in white plains for a while).. The kiosks always seemed to work fine. So well I hardly noticed them. The cards, I had some trouble with. I felt I wasn’t doing it right till the “New Yorkers vs the MetroCard” video came out. A short masterpiece of actual New Yorkers at the turnstiles.. https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/watch-new-yorkers-struggle-with-the-metrocard-swipe https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/watch-new-yorkers-s...

assttoasstmgr 4y ago

Or that much of the system ran on OS/2: https://tedium.co/2019/06/13/nyc-subway-os2-history https://tedium.co/2019/06/13/nyc-subway-os2-history

nycdotnet 4y ago
I had not heard this part - the article implies that the systems that connect the turnstiles to the mainframes run OS/2. Pretty neat. The machines that are the topic of the article (the MetroCard machines themselves) still run Windows NT 4. Blue screen shot from 2016: https://twitter.com/nycdotnet/status/750737744356319232 https://twitter.com/nycdotnet/status/750737744356319232
- classichasclass 4y ago
  And one that bombed out to a DOS prompt: https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1unxbe/in_case_you_were_wondering_it_appears_metrocard/ https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1unxbe/in_case_you_wer...

user3939382 4y ago

There’s a guy that reverse engineered them but he would only describe the broad strokes. Part of the system works with the value stored on the card so there is a way to get free rides but it’s not easy to figure out. https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/attachments/594-paper_MagneticStripeTechnology2.pdf https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/attachments/594... https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/765.en.html https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/765.en.h... https://blog.yossarian.net/2016/07/17/Decoding-the-Metrocard-Part-2 https://blog.yossarian.net/2016/07/17/Decoding-the-Metrocard...

acomjean 4y ago

I am a not I frequent visitor to NYC (i lived in white plains for a while).. The kiosks always seemed to work fine. So well I hardly noticed them. The cards, I had some trouble with. I felt I wasn’t doing it right till the “New Yorkers vs the MetroCard” video came out. A short masterpiece of actual New Yorkers at the turnstiles.. https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/watch-new-yorkers-struggle-with-the-metrocard-swipe https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/watch-new-yorkers-s...