I spent some quality time with several MTA ticket vending machines today, much to my sorrow. You see, I wanted to buy a $64 monthly ticket. I pushed the appropriate button, fed in each of my four $20 bills, watched the amount remaining as displayed on the machine decrease by 20 for each bill, then, after I fed it the last bill, watched it display “Money Returned” and spit all the bills back out. Useful error message, no? I eventually determined that it didn’t want to give me change form $80. Fortunately, a local bar had a bartender who was willing to give me change for a $20. Upon being given exact change, the machine happily supplied me with a ticket.
Then I proceeded to wait an hour for the bus. In that span of time, three different buses from the 19 route were scheduled to go by. Not one did. Thanks again, MTA.