CBS2 Demanding Answers: Select Bus Ticket Machines Sit Broken In Jamaica, Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city's Select Bus Service is supposed to help commuting run more efficiently, but broken ticket machines have been causing travel troubles for Queens riders.
CBS2's Hazel Sanchez was demanding answers about the broken machines on Wednesday.
Riding the Q44 Select Bus has become somewhat of an unpleasant sport in Jamaica, Queens. Riders are forced to test their speed and agility to jump off the bus, swipe their MetroCard to buy a ticket, and jump back on before possibly getting penalized with a summons.
"We're just trying to make our commute, and it's just making it difficult for us," said commuter Genoba Brown.
The commuting circus started more than two months ago when two Metropolitan Transportation Authority Select Bus ticket machines went down outside Queens Family Court on Archer Avenue and 153rd Street.
Riders have not been able to buy tickets with their MetroCards.
"If the ticket machine is not working here, you get on the bus, and then when you get to the next stop, you like have to get off quickly, and get the ticket there and then get back on the bus," Brown said. "But it's not guaranteed that the bus will wait for you."
CBS2 reached out to the MTA, where a representative told CBS2 it was a Con Edison problem and for some reason there was no electricity powering the machines.
Con Edison told CBS2 the machines were powered by the same source that powers a streetlight on the street, so they received the report as a light outage and were unaware of the downed MTA machines.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Con Edison said it would be repairing the machines on Thursday.
That will be good news for riders such as a grandmother walking with a cane, who boarded the Q44 at 153rd Street and had to send her daughter off the bus at the next stop to buy their tickets. They risked separation if the driver had taken off.
"I do understand technology – I get it. Things break down and things like that," said Reggie Pegues of Port Richmond. "But there has to be some kind of contingent plan to service these things regularly or there has to be some kind of system to monitor them to make sure."
Until the machines are fixed, riders have the option to use one machine that only accepts coins – which most riders do not have.
Riding a Select Bus without a ticket can result in a $100 fine. The MTA said its agents have not issued any summonses to riders affected by the broken ticket machines in Jamaica, Queens.
