Suggestions for the improvement of Translink on MUNI

1.		Automatically count boardings so that folks may benefit from cheaper fares. For example, on the fifth boarding of a day, stop charging and treat that pass as a daily pass. Use a similar approach for self-calculating weekly and monthly passes. That way a tourist can be told "put this much on a Translink and it will be good all day (or all week)." (Note that Oyster cards in London already do this )
2.		Add an annual pass to the monthly pass. Easy to do with Translink. And, of course, an annual pass should be less expensive than the total for 12 individual monthly passes.
3.		Set up vending machines that sell Translink cards.
	A.	Take credit cards, debit cards, and cash (Note that Caltrain ticket machines already do this).
	B.	Provide instructions in many languages (Note that Caltrain ticket machines offer Spanish).
	C.	Allow value to be added to a card (The old BART Translink machines did this). Note this may already be possible, see the translink site.
	D.	Allow value to be moved from one card to another.
	E.	Allow passes (daily, monthly, weekly) to be bought.
	F.	Cost for a monthly pass should be prorated to the number of days left in a month.
	G.	A daily pass should really be a 24 hour card. Good from time bought until the same time next day.
	H.	A weekly pass should be a 7 day pass. Good from the time and day bought until the same time seven days later, even if the week crosses a month's boundary.
	I.	If a spent card is inserted and the user ask for a refund, refund the $5 and any remaining funds on it.
	J.	Locate vending machines at all major bus and transit stops.
	K.	If implemented properly MUNI could phase out of accepting cash on vehicles. But note the might require allowing some to board without proof-of-payment in emergency situations.
4.		Modify inspector scanners:
	A.	Don't just show "YES" or "NO" but to also show "Monthly Pass" and "Full Fare" or "Elderly" "Disabled" etc. Otherwise Translink cards would need to be color coded too, and color coding Translink cards is a bad idea.
	B.	A monthly Translink pass should not need to be recently tagged for an inspector's reader to show YES. That is, the presence of a valid monthly pass should be sufficient.
	C.	An inspector's scanner should be able to recognize a Translink card that has been reported stolen.
	D.	The user should tag the inspector's scanner, instead of the inspector taking the Translink card away from the customer. Not all customers will quietly yield their card especially if the card is in a container (like a wallet) with other valuables.
	E.	The inspector's scanner should work even if the Translink card is inside a wallet.
	F.	The inspector's scanner should be fast. It should take less time than the present two seconds to scan.
5.		On a bus, those with fast passes sometimes load to the right at the front door. Other passengers at the same time may exit to the left. One should never have to reach across exiting passengers to tag a card. Translink readers should be on both side of each entrance.
6.		Translink readers should not be comfortable to lean against. One person leaning against a reader can lead to conflict with someone needing to tag a card.
7.		When the Translink reader is out of service, the driver should presume the Translink card is good. If a user fails to tag, the driver should presume the Translink card is good. (Note on AC Transit, a broken reader is interpreted as a presumed paid fare.)
	A.	A user should never have to tag a Translink card if it holds a Monthly (or other valid) pass. Proof of Payment should be presumed so that boarding is not slowed by unnecessary tagging.
8.		When a crowd of people is exiting at certain underground stations there is no way to enter using a Translink. At stations the Translink readers are only located on the exits. Fast Passes work at the entries. At an underground station, one should never have to wait for customers to exit before entering the station just because one is using Translink.
9.		Translink readers on trolleys and buses can act sluggish. Translink reader hardware should be lightening swift and tolerant of bad swipes.
	A.	Like BART readers, Translink should read a card at a distance, and one quickly waved over the reader.
	B.	Like BART readers, Translink readers should allow technology to advance. Someday, cellphones may hold Translink information.
10.		Computational bugs should not catch the consumer by surprise. For example, if the cash on a card is negative, a fastpass will fail to work even if the fastpass is valid. Yet the warning beep on the tagging device does not clarify the problem. System bugs should be fixed by Translink within 24 hours rather than being allowed to linger until normal software updates.