Facing outrage from commuters, the MTA has scrapped plans to upgrade all MetroCard vending machines this weekend — a plan that could have left many of the devices unable to accept credit or debit card payments.
On Wednesday, the MTA announced on its NYC Subway Twitter account that it would upgrade all vending machines between late Friday night, Feb. 2, until early on Monday morning, Feb. 5. Many of the machines, the authority cautioned, would likely be unable to accept any payments other than cash while the update is in progress.
However, the MTA changed its tune on Thursday, according to the New York Daily News. After facing criticism from commuters on Twitter and elected officials such as City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the MTA put the MetroCard machine update on ice for the time being.
“We heard what customers said loud and clear,” MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein told the Daily News. “We’re going to work to shorten this process and also get more information to riders.”
The MTA confirmed the report in an NYC Subway Twitter posting on Thursday afternoon: “We heard you all loud and clear. We’re going to postpone this weekend’s planned MetroCard machine upgrade for a week while we work to shorten the process and more clearly answer customer concerns. More to come on Monday.”
