Subway Fare for the Needy

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/opinion/subway-fare-for-the-needy.html

Version 0 of 1.

To the Editor:

Re “Spare a Swipe? The Police Relax the Rules on a Subway Request” (news article, April 18), about the practice of soliciting a MetroCard swipe from a stranger in the subways:

I am not a hoarder, but I must have five or six MetroCards in a drawer at any given time. Why can’t the Metropolitan Transportation Authority accept these as donations and distribute single-ride cards at staffed subway stations? Or ask those of us buying cards if we’d like to donate $1 toward underwriting free transportation for those in need?

Or how about a public-private arrangement in which a nonprofit takes on collecting and distributing these cards? Can you imagine the collection rate each year at our airports, bus terminals and train depots as nearly 60 million tourists depart?

Yes, I am suggesting an honor system in which if you’re willing to ask, you should be allowed to receive. That’s not a crime; that’s Matthew 7:7.

SUSAN DAMPLO

New York