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> a per-chip price of nine cents That still seems expensive for a $3.75 metro fare. 2.4% of the cost of your ride is the chip in the ticket itself? Maybe it's
by ForHackernews 2y ago
> a per-chip price of nine cents
That still seems expensive for a $3.75 metro fare.
2.4% of the cost of your ride is the chip in the ticket itself? Maybe it's worth it because it lets them eliminate mechanical ticket-reading and unify paper tickets with other NFC payment methods.
- lbourdages 2y agoThese single use tickets are used essentially only by tourists and those who use public transport only on occasion. The vast majority of users will use rechargeable Opus cards [1] that can contain a variety of different fare types (single tickets, monthly tickets, etc). From an operator's point of view it definitely makes sense to only have to maintain one type of reader, even if that means losing a few cents profit on the low single digit percent of rides that use the disposable tickets. [1] https://www.stm.info/en/info/fares/opus-cards-and-other-fare-media/opus-card https://www.stm.info/en/info/fares/opus-cards-and-other-fare...
- idunnoman1222 2y agoThat’s not true in Montreal if you buy a single ride you get a paper ticket with a magnetic stripe that you feed into a completely different reader.
- lbourdages 2y agoI've never seen these mag tickets, the ticket machines all give out Occasionnelle cards even for 1 ticket. Maybe if you walk up to the clerk?
- tomoyoirl 2y agoI assume all regular customers will be paying a fare of $3.25 or less per ride on the reusable Opus card (fare purchased in a 10-ride pack). Essentially you’re paying for the chip with the very-occasional-commuter one-ride convenience fee.
- crote 2y agoThat's the per-wafer price, via a distributor. I bet you get a decent discount if you buy a few thousand wafers straight from the manufacturer.