Magneta Card
Magnetar cards (Shinasthana: 莫爾多, mak-ni-tar) are a family of magnetic stripe cards that offer seasonal ticket or pay-as-you-go function on the Kien-k'ang Rapid Transit system's metro and light rail lines. The seasonal card was introduced in February 1972, and the stored value card in June 1975.
The name of the card is a double entendre between the Anglian word "magnet" and mak-ni-tar, which means "not to wait long" in Shinasthana, referencing its original function of allowing the holder to omit the ticketing queue.
History
Prior to the Magneta card's introduction, users of the KRT system followed a routine not dissimilar to mainline railways of the day. If the traveller had a seasonal pass (which has been pre-paid for all trips in the duration of the ticket), they could go to a gate to access trains; if not, the traveller would need to queue for a ticket at either a manned window or a ticket machine, and afterwards the traveller would go to a gate. This means there are potentially two queues for the traveller to go through if both were crowded. Having already introduced effective ticketing machines in 1960 to replace some ticket windows and seeking further to reduce staffing, the manual punching of the ticket was the next issue on the chopping block.
As magnetic stripe cards were in developing in the late 60s, the Magneta card was an early implementation of the technology as a stable, portable storage medium for information that could stand in lieu of a train ticket. A prototype was internally demonstrated to the Board in February 1970, and read/write mechanisms were tested later that year. Tests were conducted with KRT employees in 1971, leading to its public announcement in January 1972. Assuming a long queue both at the ticket window and at the gate, the Magneta was advertised to save up to five minutes a day for a commuting person.
With a storage capacity of only 32 bits, the seasonal Magneta carried a station code
Card usage
Type of card
Seasonal pass
Stored value
Security
The Magneta cards are all based on an unencrypted magnetic stripe that is visible to the naked eye until 1992 and then machine-readable with relative ease since then. While this would be a glaring security issue by modern standards, the fact that they do not even bear user data makes it impossible for them to compromise the user's identity in case the card is lost. On the other hand, this also means a lost Magneta cannot be restored to its owner except by means of comparing the signature on the reverse side. KRT has historically been secretive over what it considers a match in signature. Card loss and therefore loss of the value stored on the card is therefore a major issue with the traditional Magneta, with an estimated $150 million lost annually, to the benefit of KRT.