Comment I understand Michael's ideas, but... (Score 1) 173
...even the NYC subway gadflies concede that Metrocard works and has brought benefits to the average bus and subway passenger. Obviously there are going to be problems with a system the size of the MTA, but there is certainly no great outcry against it or statistical case stating that it needs to be rebuilt from the tech level up. I'm as open-source as the next guy (maybe more), but I don't think there's an organization using solely open source technology that's ready to win and execute a contract this size today. Maybe someday, maybe someday soon, but we're talking about a massive engineering job here, and finding a contractor with the ability to manage that huge a process to schedule and budget is exactly the sort of thing you don't want to get caught pinching pennies on if you're a Transit Department desk jockey. The Village Voice article mentions no organizations who claim the ability to do a better job, much less with open source tech. The only alternative mentioned is union labor... and whatever one's feelings about unionized labor's real or idealized relationship to technology culture, the union representative quoted sure doesn't sound too knowledgable. Does anyone think he might just want the headcount back under his control, regardless of the results?
On strictly Metrocard tech terms, if someone wants to break the security on the cards, I might be more inclined to beleive that there are fundamental reasons to rethink the underlying technology. I've spent a lot of time working over the cards myself and with friends, and despite having a reasonable ear to the ground here, I have not heard of a usable, repeatable hack on them for years. The only hack I have ever verified myself was within the first year of the system's deployment and could get you one free ride, after which the card was rendered unusable. That hole was closed years ago. If anyone has actual evidence to the contrary, I'd love to hear it.
As regards all the points about how silly government applications of technology can be, well, duh. The article cited is about a specefic case, though, and despite my best efforts and poetic sense of justice, the thing in question works and at a reasonable cost. Anyone who thinks $390 million is a lot of money for the job and thinks that the city is being rooked should consider that at 3 million riders a day at a dollar fifty per trip, Cubic's tab comes to 85 days of revenue from a system that's been up for nine plus years. I'm not sure that on Planet Earth in the year 2000 you could do too much better.
In short, the article really seems to be looking for a problem where, if one exists, it's pretty far under the noise threshold.
On strictly Metrocard tech terms, if someone wants to break the security on the cards, I might be more inclined to beleive that there are fundamental reasons to rethink the underlying technology. I've spent a lot of time working over the cards myself and with friends, and despite having a reasonable ear to the ground here, I have not heard of a usable, repeatable hack on them for years. The only hack I have ever verified myself was within the first year of the system's deployment and could get you one free ride, after which the card was rendered unusable. That hole was closed years ago. If anyone has actual evidence to the contrary, I'd love to hear it.
As regards all the points about how silly government applications of technology can be, well, duh. The article cited is about a specefic case, though, and despite my best efforts and poetic sense of justice, the thing in question works and at a reasonable cost. Anyone who thinks $390 million is a lot of money for the job and thinks that the city is being rooked should consider that at 3 million riders a day at a dollar fifty per trip, Cubic's tab comes to 85 days of revenue from a system that's been up for nine plus years. I'm not sure that on Planet Earth in the year 2000 you could do too much better.
In short, the article really seems to be looking for a problem where, if one exists, it's pretty far under the noise threshold.
