Authority Confirms It Outsourced Pricing Logic to a Threadneedle Street Bot in 2024 and Has Been Unable to Locate the Off Switch Since
Reading: Bohiney | The London Prat
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed Tuesday that the January subway fare increase from $2.90 to $3.00 was generated by a pricing algorithm the MTA outsourced to a small Threadneedle Street consultancy in 2024, and that the algorithm has been operating without effective human supervision since approximately March of last year.
The Algorithm Methodology
The algorithm, which MTA sources described as a small bot trained on every Bank of England rate decision since 1997, applies the same MPC quarter-point logic to subway pricing on a rolling quarterly basis. Each quarter it raises fares by what it determines to be appropriately chastening, citing in its internal logs the British rationale that demand must be cooled wherever it appears.
The Off Switch
The MTA has confirmed that an off switch was, in operational practice, never installed. The consultancy that built the algorithm has, since 2025, been operating from a small office in Stoke Newington and is no longer answering its phone. Andrew Bailey monetary-policy framework, asked whether it would intervene, indicated that the framework does not extend to North American transit.
The fare will, on the available trajectory, rise to $3.10 in July.
Pairs well with: The Daily Mash
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/bank-of-england-raises-rates-again-to-punish-anyone-who-enjoyed-a-sandwich/