Well, it's better than directing them to the MARC Store...

What clown of a middle manager thought up this one?

I posted a comment to this effect on the MTA's Facebook update relaying this news and they replied as follows:

"You can buy ticket at your destination."

Which is of course not what their initial position was...

I may be stating the obvious here, but it seems to me that one of the primary obligations of the MTA is to make sure they collect fares. Why should there ever be an instance of the machines being "down" for more than a few hours-- the time it would take to plunk an employee there with a card table, a cash box, a cop, and a credit card reader?

I haven't been impressed with the MTA at all, because they don't seem to get that they are not welfare, they are a transportation agency that is required by law to meet a minimum farebox recovery percentage.

One thing to remember is that these machines are out in the open, day and night - which means they are susceptible to vandalism. Take one of the machines at Patapsco - the top left button has been mashed in (to be fair, there's no way to tell if this was vandalism or an overzealous ticket buyer, though my gut tells me the former). For those not familiar with the machines, this is the button you'd press to buy a single-trip ticket. When these machines are left open to the elements, both natural and criminal, there will be times when they are out of service. There should be an alternative for riders when this is the case - and there should be a way to let farecheckers know when machines are down, or when they're in "lockdown" mode (i.e., selling only weekly/monthly passes).

It's the MTA that's responsible for the condition of the machines -- not the riders.

Oh, Michael! Did we learn nothing during the Artscape debacle? MTA/Light Rail is an absolute Princess with no responsibility for anything that it does or does not do!

Light Rail policy, as told to me by Ruth Silverstone when she was in management there some years ago, is this: "If all tkt machines at the station where you board are out of order, your ride is free." For several years (before giving up on Light Rail altogether), I kept a slip of paper with this verbatim, dated statement in my wallet, bec/ frankly I did not expect MTA police or attendants to know their own policies.

MTA should recoup its lost fares from area car dealers, bec/ hundreds of us own cars who wish we didn't have to, thanks to the absence of timely, reliable, nonhumiliating public transit options in the Baltimore area.

@Chris, I don't buy it.

It would be easy enough for the MTA to send out a few inspectors every day that ride up and down the line, doing a check on the machines.

It also shouldn't be that hard to have machines that can be remotely monitored to see if they are being used, and if not, send someone to ride the train and find out why.

Machines break. But the MTA should be on top of this, like with so many things. Remember, the MTA is supported not just by fares-- but substantially by Maryland taxpayers. We taxpayers should DEMAND and RECEIVE better service than this agency delivers.

why *should* the MTA care? It's not accountable to anyone. We have one party rule here in this state and a compliant press.

Despite Michael's houding of the agency his employers will continue to support and endorse the Democratic Party which runs every last bit of the organs of state. So why should the MTA care? Their masters will be reelected year in and year out. Positive reinforcement for incompetence...