New Subway Math May Bring Windfall of Spare Change to Transit System - New York Times

Under the new plan, the minimum that riders must spend to qualify for a bonus will be reduced to $7, from $10, in an effort to put a fare discount within the reach of more people with lower incomes. But in that case, when someone puts $7 on a card, an additional $1.05 will appear on the card, for a total of $8.05. If they take four subway trips, at $2 each, that will leave a balance on the card of five cents. If they refill the card with another $7, it will then show a total value of $8.10, enough for four rides, with a dime left over. The real challenge is figuring out how much to put on the card to bring it up to a round sum. “It’s too hard for me to do the math, and if it’s hard for me it’s going to be hard for a lot of people who buy the pay-per-ride cards,” said Gene Russianoff, the staff lawyer of the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy group.