The Toronto Transit Commission roars into the 21st century with a bold technology upgrade: A new style of token!
These state-of-the-art tiny metal discs are equipped with the latest in... Well, nothing. The TTC lost $10 million in fares over the previous two years due to one token counterfeiting ring. I had a roommate who made his own by cutting up pennies with an "as seen on TV" pair of scissors.
The Toronto Star article goes on to add that $7 million is pissed away every year in counterfeit Metropasses, token scams, and enterprising souls who take a shortcut over top of the turnstiles - a remark the article blandly reports is "Just under 1 per cent of the system's total revenue."
How about them newfangled cards with their fancy prepaid fares you can buy in advance, fill up when you need from an ATM-style machine and not lose in the smallest corner of your jeans' front pocket?
The Moscow Metro has a more efficient, technologically advanced fare collection system than that of Canada's largest municipal transport network. It also has terrifying metal gates that automatically shoot out and crush your balls if you try to use a card that has run out of prepaid fares.
But they're not going to tell you what special metals this technological marvel is made from. So all you backyard alchemists can fuck off!
Why don't we privatize municipal transport to encourage innovation and better service, so that ridership will increase and car usage will go down?
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