De-anonymizing the subway
Awhile ago I wrote of the virtues of electronic payment methods for transit. Instead of the old-fashioned token, you can now wave your smart-chip embedded plastic thingie at the turnstile or farebox. Seems mighty convenient, but is there a hidden price to pay?
One Slashdot commenter points out that new payment methods de-anonymize the use of public transit. Previously in New York, riders purchased tokens and popped them into turnstiles. Usage was un-traceable. Now riders must purchase MetroCards, and the agency can stick a camera in the MetroCard vending machine to record you as you make your purchase and, then, track your usage of the MetroCard. The new Citibank fare payment card available for use on the Lexington Avenue Line offers even more potential for tracking, as records could then possibly be matched up with your name and address. I don't know whether NYC Transit actually does this sort of data mining.
I can tell you that WMATA tracks usage of your SmarTrip card. I once lost mine and when I called to reclaim the lost value, the operator told me the stations I had visited recently. I believe this information also pops up on the computer if a station manager examines your card for some reason (which often happens if the card is not working.) Again, I don't know what use, if any, the agency makes of this information. Perhaps this data could be useful to analyze ridership patterns, but it could also be used for marketing or for other nefarious purposes.
The Slashdot commenter also points out that commuter rail agencies encourage you to purchase tickets by mail, slapping you with penalties if you purchase them onboard the train.
How would you feel if WMATA or MTA made information about your transit use available to marketers? What if the agencies aggregated your data with that of other riders in order to analyze ridership patterns, or for sale to marketers?
Post Author:
massysett | 3:59 PM |
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Electronic payment systems are a huge bonus for transit agencies, as it saves them the trouble of having to do manual passenger counts and surveys on a continuous basis. This sort of how many, and where people are going to and from data is the bread and butter of how you run and improve in transit agency.
The driving factor behind these things is, as always, economics. Cash transactions are expensive as you need people everywhere to deal with them and protect them and transport the proceeds. Electronic ticketing is cheaper and easier, and it provides you with all this ridership data. No wonder about agencies push their riders to use it.
About commuter rail fines: Metra in Chicago has this in place only if the station you boarded at does not have a sales clerk currently working. The clerk only works 6 AM -12 PM on weekdays in the station where my dad lives in the suburbs. There are always clerks at the downtown stations so you will always get a $2 fine there. This is because the Metra trains are very busy and there are only a handful of conductors checking tickets - they don't have all the time in the world to deal with your laziness (or lateness).
This fine is announced before the train departs and sometimes, during holidays, the conductors won't let you enter the platform unless you have a ticket.
Metra currently has no electronic ticketing.
I think it's inherently valuable for transit agencies to be able to track ridership patterns, and e-ticketing certainly gives them that power. Although it's not just SmarTrip cards that can do this, the paper tickets you buy also do this by virtue of the magnetic strip. It's essential in a system like DC's that charges by distance or zone.
I'm not sure how WMATA or anyone could specifically market to me based on what stations I frequent, unless it somehow sends me a coupon for a Starbucks at Farragut North or something. But then again, they probably don't have my address linked to my SmarTrip card -- they only do if you register it.
This kind of data has been used in London by police to track suspects in crimes, opening the constant debate about whether or not it's good for police to have this kind of power to track people. I would assume it would only be a matter of time before the NYPD started using this data, and presumably with far less oversight than London's police.
http://www.mayor-of-london.co.uk/blog/2006/03/oyster_card_data_use_by_the_police.html
They are always tracking people by their Metrocards on Law and Order. I assume that everything I hear about on police dramas are true... no?
Here in Atlanta with the new Breeze Card system (MARTA will be the first all-smart card system in North America) the State Legislature, with the support of MARTA, passed an amendment to the state bill protecting tollway card users by adding Breeze card users. It basically prevents anyone from being able to subpoena the data. MARTA internally also adopted a very strict privacy policy. But the data exists of course and is used only for planning purposes to see what trips and routes are successful and what the trip making patterns are (origins and destinations) so the service can better be tailored to demand. The bus system in particular is going to be overhauled once we have a year or so worth of data.
