Monday, March 23, 2009
The durable BART ticket
Very random thought here but BART tickets are actually quite durable. I have a ticket that has been used by 3 different family members, gone through the mail several times (for them to use while they take BART from SFO to Orinda), placed in pockets, purses and wallets, and gone through a cycle of laundry in the washer and dryer (accidentally left in the pocket)!! Especially after the washer and dryer cycle, I was pretty sure it wouldn't work anymore, but it actually went through the ticket machine! I guess the only weakness is demagnetization but somehow this little ticket didn't get demagnetized placed in different wallets. I'm now using it after it's been used by 3 others and after 1 more round-trip ride, the little ticket will have fulfilled its purpose and the amount will go down to less than $1.
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6 comments:
They may be durable--but they de-magnetize easily.
Tickets are very durable now that they are plastic.. The only thing that really gets them is a magnet.
And that is mostly a woman purse or man big phone problem.
I had a BART ticket demagnetized after keeping it right next to another credit card. If this must be done make sure the magnetic strips do not face each other.
My tickets used to get demagnetized often back when I first started using BART. I've just learned to keep it in a completely separate compartment in the purse and nowhere close to wallet or anything slightly magnetic. But..somehow, this ticket didn't get demagnetized after my sister placed it in her wallet. Maybe she had a lot of cash to wrap around it?? Just thought it was interesting to share since this one particular ticket has gone through so much!
I have a lil' stash of tickets stored all together, with nothing in between them, which means they are touching each other. I don't bother to make sure if the strips are touching or not - I've yet to have one demagnetize.
I really wonder how people store their tickets to have them demagnetize so easily.
If the coercivity of the magnetic medium is low enough that two tickets touching would demagnetize each other, one ticket would tend to demagnetize itself. I'm pretty sure the magnetic field during the write phase is considerably higher. It can't be that different from audio cassettes in this respect. (What are audio cassettes? Am I showing my age here?) :)
I've had tickets get ruined by getting wet (got caught in the rain) but customer service will issue a replacement.
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