Annual Review of Metro Card Balance
The metro route is known. The stop sequence is known. The card balance is discovered at the fare gate.
Year in review: metro card balance. Period: The past year. Metro journeys: approximately 180. Card declines at gate: eleven. Occasions the balance was checked before entering: twelve.
The Asymmetry
The card was checked before entering on twelve occasions. The card was declined at the gate on eleven occasions. This means: checking the card before entry prevented zero declines. All eleven declines were occasions where the card was not checked, and checking would have prevented the decline.
The twelve checks before entry were for occasions where the balance was, in all twelve cases, sufficient.
The Low-Balance Discovery Pattern
The balance is discovered at the gate because the gate is the friction point. The balance indicator inside the card is not visible. The balance in the app requires opening the app. The balance in the app was last checked on an average of eleven days before a decline.
The Top-Up Behavior
The top-up amount, when topping up, has been 100 or 200 rupees across all thirty-one top-up events. The average depletion rate is approximately 35 rupees per journey (combined lines). The top-up produces three to six journeys before the balance returns to a low state.
A larger top-up would reduce the frequency of top-up events. Larger top-ups have not been made because reaching for the card to top up happens at the gate, which is a moment of urgency rather than planning.
The Status
The card's current balance is unknown. There is a metro journey scheduled for tomorrow.