The usual grump when looking back at old predictions about the future is that a lot of the things promised back in previous decades are nowhere near fruition. It’s the old “we were promised jet packs” cliché.
But reading a piece from 1988, in which the Los Angeles Times Magazine tries to predict a day in the life of a 2013 family, has the opposite effect. Some of its predictions have not only come true, they been overtaken by reality.
The article, written by Nicole Yorkin, who later went on to become a screenwriter and producer for television series such as Battlestar Galactica and FlashForward, traces a day in the life of a fictitious family. It begins in the morning when their coffee maker turns itself on (tick) and ends with one of the family reading the collected Jackie Collins in bed on a laser disc (semi-tick). Meanwhile, the entire family’s data is stored on credit-card-sized computers called “smart cards” and films are watched on “ultra-thin, high-resolution video screens”.
Yorkin’s predictions for what cars will be like are almost dead-on, too: “Chief among these developments will be a central computer that will control a number of devices (tick); a sonar shield will automatically brake the car when it comes too close to another (tick)… Autos will come equipped with electronic navigation systems (tick).”
Some things aren’t quite so accurate. Yorkin suggests that her futuristic family will be served by home robots. And that knowledge will be available to everyone via “developments such as CD-ROM”. Bit two-thousand-and-late, that one. But it’s about as close a representation of 2013 as you’d imagine from the late Eighties. Especially compared with Blade Runner’s idea of the Los Angeles of 2019.
The fare increases are expected to bring in $25 million in additional revenue for the cash-strapped agency, but that would still mean a $38 million shortfall in the fiscal budget effective July 1. State funds are being sought to make up the difference.
With the new system, hundreds of vending machines at bus and subway stations will sell refillable cards to replace weekly and monthly transit passes, tokens and paper transfers. Riders also will have the option to pay their fare by tapping a smartphone or smart-chip embedded credit or debit card on a turnstile equipped with an electronic reader, which will withdraw the fare from a SEPTA-linked bank or other account.
The so-called New Payment Technology program will make SEPTA among the country’s first transit agencies to adopt a system that allows riders to pay fares using their own phone or bank card, rather than requiring riders to use an agency-branded fare card. The transition will begin this summer, with trial runs on new turnstiles first in the city and then the suburbs. The switchover will be completed by the end of 2014.
There are five counters near the entrance of platform No. 1 and another two counters are there for general tickets at the exit point near platform No. 4.
“One can see a lot of congestion near the booking counters in the morning and after 4pm. The situation becomes chaotic during peak hours as people have to stand in long queues to get a general ticket,” said a senior railway official.
Apart from a small pamphlet pasted on the glass window of a booking counter, there is no other advertisement about the smart cards.
One has to go to the office of the chief booking supervisor to purchase a smart card. The passengers too feel that one ATVM should be kept near the entrance of platform No. 4.
“All the four machines are situated near the entrance of platform No. 1, which makes it difficult for passengers entering though the gate at platform No. 4. They have to take the foot overbridge to book a ticket through ATVM,” said Malaya Samal, a passenger.
The passengers also feel that a person should be deployed to assist them while using the machines.
“Sometimes we have to go through technical glitches but without anyone to assist us it becomes very difficult. So, there should be someone near the machine to demonstrate its use,” said Upendra Sethy, another passenger.
The smart cards can be bought by depositing Rs 100, which includes a usable balance of Rs 50 and a refundable security deposit of Rs 50. One needs to top-up the cards in multiples of Rs 50. There is no need to submit any identification proof for obtaining a smart card.
But reading a piece from 1988, in which the Los Angeles Times Magazine tries to predict a day in the life of a 2013 family, has the opposite effect. Some of its predictions have not only come true, they been overtaken by reality.
The article, written by Nicole Yorkin, who later went on to become a screenwriter and producer for television series such as Battlestar Galactica and FlashForward, traces a day in the life of a fictitious family. It begins in the morning when their coffee maker turns itself on (tick) and ends with one of the family reading the collected Jackie Collins in bed on a laser disc (semi-tick). Meanwhile, the entire family’s data is stored on credit-card-sized computers called “smart cards” and films are watched on “ultra-thin, high-resolution video screens”.
Yorkin’s predictions for what cars will be like are almost dead-on, too: “Chief among these developments will be a central computer that will control a number of devices (tick); a sonar shield will automatically brake the car when it comes too close to another (tick)… Autos will come equipped with electronic navigation systems (tick).”
Some things aren’t quite so accurate. Yorkin suggests that her futuristic family will be served by home robots. And that knowledge will be available to everyone via “developments such as CD-ROM”. Bit two-thousand-and-late, that one. But it’s about as close a representation of 2013 as you’d imagine from the late Eighties. Especially compared with Blade Runner’s idea of the Los Angeles of 2019.
The fare increases are expected to bring in $25 million in additional revenue for the cash-strapped agency, but that would still mean a $38 million shortfall in the fiscal budget effective July 1. State funds are being sought to make up the difference.
With the new system, hundreds of vending machines at bus and subway stations will sell refillable cards to replace weekly and monthly transit passes, tokens and paper transfers. Riders also will have the option to pay their fare by tapping a smartphone or smart-chip embedded credit or debit card on a turnstile equipped with an electronic reader, which will withdraw the fare from a SEPTA-linked bank or other account.
The so-called New Payment Technology program will make SEPTA among the country’s first transit agencies to adopt a system that allows riders to pay fares using their own phone or bank card, rather than requiring riders to use an agency-branded fare card. The transition will begin this summer, with trial runs on new turnstiles first in the city and then the suburbs. The switchover will be completed by the end of 2014.
There are five counters near the entrance of platform No. 1 and another two counters are there for general tickets at the exit point near platform No. 4.
“One can see a lot of congestion near the booking counters in the morning and after 4pm. The situation becomes chaotic during peak hours as people have to stand in long queues to get a general ticket,” said a senior railway official.
Apart from a small pamphlet pasted on the glass window of a booking counter, there is no other advertisement about the smart cards.
One has to go to the office of the chief booking supervisor to purchase a smart card. The passengers too feel that one ATVM should be kept near the entrance of platform No. 4.
“All the four machines are situated near the entrance of platform No. 1, which makes it difficult for passengers entering though the gate at platform No. 4. They have to take the foot overbridge to book a ticket through ATVM,” said Malaya Samal, a passenger.
The passengers also feel that a person should be deployed to assist them while using the machines.
“Sometimes we have to go through technical glitches but without anyone to assist us it becomes very difficult. So, there should be someone near the machine to demonstrate its use,” said Upendra Sethy, another passenger.
The smart cards can be bought by depositing Rs 100, which includes a usable balance of Rs 50 and a refundable security deposit of Rs 50. One needs to top-up the cards in multiples of Rs 50. There is no need to submit any identification proof for obtaining a smart card.