the M60 is amazing… I would be super sad if I had to take a cab into town. The people who can't afford the plastic payment option for the bus can't afford the cab.
EXACTLY! You'd literally disenfranchise significant portions of the city's poorer areas if the MTA decided to nix cash metrocard payments across the board. The amount of human traffic caused by the metrocard machines no longer accepting bills and there's only 1 person in the booth is a massive problem during morning commutes and many of those people have jobs where they're punished for being not being on time.
excellent point! going to a cashless society would have ripple effects like this, and even further down. Having said all this… I LOVE my plastic. I love paying at the pump. I love parking meters that take plastic. I love that every vendor at the farmers' market has a square, or paypal, or other credit card reader slapped on their iDevice. I love it. I am fortunate to have learned a long time ago to live below my means and budget. Because of that, I have the luxury of earning bonus points for using a card. I am grateful for this skill and for this opportunity. but that's my privileged, educated, first-world situation. So many people don't have those luxuries.many of those people have jobs where they're punished for being not being on time.
The "underbanked" are a segment that the CC companies are now essentially fighting over. They've all begun to issue cards that are "reload able" with cash at certain places, i.e. Walmart and can be used like a credit/debit card. This is a way to "get them in to the system." It's essentially "cash" though so the "live outside of your means" thing isn't an option. Also, the truth is, most large organizations would rather not deal in cash but a cash equivalent like a "MTA card" or a reload able cash card.