The inventor of the MetroCard, Raymond deKozan, has taken his last train. He passed away last week at the age of 74 reports Crain’s New York Business.
An electrical engineer by training, deKozan founded what eventually became Cubic Transportation Systems in 1972. The San Diego-based company is a subsidiary of the Cubic Corp., a major defense contractor. The company provides automatic fare collection systems for cities around the world. But its best-known product, at least to New Yorkers, is the MetroCard, that piece of yellow plastic with the magnetic stripe that has become an indispensable tool of city life.
The card made riding the subway easier–and simplified the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s fare collection, even though it also made it more expensive. The MTA says 15 cents of every fare dollar pays for fare collection, and the agency will soon impose a $1 surcharge to buy a new refillable MetroCard.
Despite its shortcomings, the MetroCard revolutionized riding the buses and subways. For the first time, beginning in the 1990s, riders could pay for a subway fare with a credit card. The technology made possible the unlimited-ride MetroCard, which rewarded people for using the subway: The more they rode, the cheaper each ride became.
Photo by Carlos Martinez