Bring Back The Cardvaark!

Peter Stangl, 1995 (played here by Dick Van Dyke)

It's hard to conceive, now, with ubiquity of swipecards and transponders (EZ Pass), but in the early 1990s the MTA lived in fear that it would have to pry the token from our cold, dead hands before we'd accept MetroCards. And thus, Cardvaark, and more to the point, a whole PR campaign to "sell MetroCard."

As reported in this space yesterday, the first documented public reference to Cardvaark came in Ellis Henican's Newsday column of July 27, 1993. Only appropriate, then, that the last one came in Henican's column of August 5, 1993--just over a week later. Henican reported on a meeting of the MTA's marketing department, after which MTA Chairman Peter Stangl announced: "As far as I'm concerned, Cardvaark can go away." And go away he did. To this day, the MTA has never used a mascot again. (Just imagine: "Hi, I'm your friendly subway beagle, See-Something-Say-Something: Hooowlp us out....")

Henican's reporting was instrumental in the death of The Cardvaark and in exposing the costly, ill-conceived marketing plan Cardy was a symbol for, but questions remain:
-Whose original concept was The Cardvaark?
-Who drew it? And where can we see some of his/her other work?
-Why an aardvark anyway?
-Why the bizarre misspelling with two "As"--but in the wrong place (guess the MTA faactcheckers missed this one).

Not Carvdaark but we can dream... (Courtesy WFMU)

-Was a Cardvaark suit ever created?

I say: Bring Back The Cardvaark! Not as a mascot for the MetroCard, but as a symbol of the audacity and paternalism of public (or quasi-public) institutions like the MTA that are forever selling us on their services--and paying private advertising and PR firms to do so--even as we are using those very services. And charging us for the privilege.

A Case for The Cardvaark?

(Photo: The New York Times)

About a week ago, the MTA introduced MetroCards with advertisements on both sides. Today, we learn about the fare increases proposed for 2012, including the possibility that single rides may jump from $2.25 to $2.50 or the monthly unlimited card from $104 to $129. Looks like they're giving us the old one-two here.

In response to a story on the new advertising scheme, I wrote this letter to the New York Times. They didn't publish it--probably a case of professional jealousy--so I am presenting it here. Was there ever a time the MTA needed The Cardvaark more than now?

To the Editor:
The M.T.A.'s introduction this week of MetroCards with advertising on
front and back reminds us of how taken for granted the card itself has
become. When the M.T.A. first rolled out the MetroCard in 1993, it
worried that riders would not give up their beloved tokens and might
even quit the system altogether. They commissioned a Metropolitan
Marketing Plan, now buried in the M.T.A. archives in Brooklyn, which
envisioned all kinds of public events for the kick-off. The planners
even created a mascot for the new card, The Cardvaark, described in
the plan as a " high-tech, yet lovable creature who can 'sell' the
card." When Newsday's subway reporter ridiculed the creature as "a
dumb-looking, snout-nosed, big-eared, bug-eyed, round-cheeked,
pot-bellied, card-pitching mascot," M.T.A. chairman Peter Stangl
killed off The Cardvaark for good. As it turned out, the M.T.A. didn't
need to "sell" the MetroCard after all, and now the card is selling us
on health insurance and the Gap.


PS. Attached image is the sketch from the Metropolitan Marketing Plan.

Who Killed Cardvark? (Part Two)

Home schooler triumphs!

There we were, deep in the bowels of the MTA archives. My research assistant and I, like Woodward and Bernstein--if you can imagine Carl Bernstein as a blond, thirteen year old girl--digging through folders, record boxes, and binders of MetroCard-related swag. I have to admit, I was beginning to lose hope (after about 10 minutes), when Sr. Research Assistant Lucy exclaimed, "There he is!"

Sure enough, she had found a story from Newsday from July 27, 1993. The paper's "In the Subway" reporter, Ellis Henican described how the MTA, as part of its plan to "hype" the soon to be launched MetroCard, decided the system needed a mascot: "a dumb-looking, snout-nosed, big-eared, bug-eyed, round-cheeked, pot-bellied, card-pitching mascot." Way harsh, dude.

(Courtesy MTA Transit Museum Archives)

After that discovery, it took only moments to locate a draft report commissioned by the MTA with its "Metropolitan Marketing Plan" for MetroCard. There, among other "kick-off events" was the genesis of "The Cardvaark" (sic): "Create a character to symbolize MetroCard--a high-tech, yet lovable creature who can 'sell' the card." (p. 57). The appendix of the report includes the sketch you see here.

"Dumb-looking, snout-nosed..., pot-bellied" or "high-tech, yet lovable creature." Reader, you decide. Tomorrow: Did The Cardvaark "sell" the MetroCard or get sold down the river? The mystery of who killed Cardvaark solved!

Cardvaark Conservationist?

The Cardvaark that swallowed the canary?

New York gets a little more expensive today as the MTA rolls out its latest fare hikes. Single rides up a quarter; monthly unlimited cards 8 bucks; and one-way tolls on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (and 6 others) up 2 bucks.

The good news? The MTA is going green. Ssort of. It will now charge a $1 surcharge for every new MetroCard. The goal is to prevent the rampant carpeting of subway stations with busted cards (and, incidentally, net the MTA an estimated $20M in revenue).

Thing of the past?

In another earth-friendly move, the MTA has decided to eliminate the wasteful printing of posters to inform riders on the 7 line that, once again, there is no weekend service between Queensborough Plaza and Times Square. Now, the only posters will be occasional ones reading: "Surprise! The 7 train is running between Queens and Manhattan this weekend." Thanks, Cardvaark!

It Took Some Digging...

But I finally found a worthy adversary for The Cardvaark. Who could this upstart be? Why, it's a mole decked out as a digger for the Warsaw Metro. The first (north-south) line of Warsaw's Metro system has been operational since 1995. A second, intersecting east-west line is still under construction, thus our shovel-ready friend. (But that's not the 'hole' story, as we'll see.)

In case you've forgotten about Cardvaark, here's a reminder below. And much more here. Much as it pains me to admit, I think you've got to give hand it to the Poles on this one.

"I Coulda Been a Contender"

Big Ideas in Minicars

Long one today, but the boys and girls down in the Research Bureau are pretty excited about a document they've got their hands on recently: A Minicar Transportation System in an Urban Low Income Group. It's a 1972 report by the Minicar Project Transportation Planning Group of the Transportation Studies Center, Center for Urban Research and Experiment, University of Pennsylvania.

The group's goal was to create a transportation alternative for people in Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods, those least served by public transportation. It would address the high unemployment rates in these neighborhoods by making transportation to the Central Business District (CBD), where the jobs were, more feasible. According to the report, travel from the neighborhoods studied to the CBD, on average, took twice as long as a comparable trip by auto would, and often involved "extensive walking."

The system it describes was visionary: "a fleet of [gasoline-electric hybrid] minicars, centrally controlled by a business management, that can be picked up by qualified drivers from a number of terminals, driven to a desired destination or another terminal and be paid [for] according to the length of time of the trip and/or the time spent. "The whole system would depend on personal coded Minicards that could be used to calculate usage and start the cars. Citibike, Zipcars, and the Prius all rolled into one!

Here's a sample trip from a low income area (LIA) terminal: to the CBD:
-->Exit from LIA Terminal: 10¢
-->Entry CBD Terminal: 15¢
-->2 miles at 5¢ per mile: 10¢
-->16 minutes at 1/2¢ per minute: 8¢
Total cost of the One-Way Trip: 43¢

Even with these figures, the system was designed to be fiscally self-sustaining. (When did "¢" symbol disappear from keyboards?)

But what about the minicars themselves? Have look:

Here are the specs from the report:
Size: At nine fee long, half the length of a full-size car (in 1972, that is). Yet at six feet wide, it can comfortably accommodate three adults abreast (Read: No back seat!).
Style: For a functional car, it offers exceptional comfort and appearance. It has attractive styling, excellent enamel and trim, tailored doors, automatic transmission, and combined heating and air-conditioning controls. (No mention of radio or 8-track tapedeck.)
Performance: At city speeds--up to 30 m.p.h.--the Minicar offers exceptionally good acceleration. At higher speeds, the rate of acceleration decreases significantly. At all speeds, breaking and agility are superior to the average American car.
Pollution: Low exhaust emissions in normal operation and none whatsoever of distances up to 11 miles are made possible by its hybrid gasoline-electric motor.

As far as the RB can determine, no prototype was ever developed. Pity.

(This post dedicated to my nephew, Thomas, fan of minicars and the Cardvark, aka, the Cardvaark.)

A High Tech, Yet Lovable Creature

No, I'm not talking about Cardvark (or "The Cardvaark"), the MTA's aborted (ouch) effort to create a mascot for the then new MetroCard system. I'm talking about Robotman, the creation of cartoonist Jim Meddick who, along with his nebbish human sidekick, Monty, charmed comic strip readers from 1985 until 200. At that point, in an intergalactic battle, Robotman took on Captain James T. Kirk for the honor of his android sweetheart, Roba. In the end, according to Robotman scholar Paul Frawley, because "Roba is powered by radiation unique to the far off solar system and can't come to earth with Robotman [he] tearily decides to stay with Roba." After which, the strip was retitled Monty and focused on Monty's decidedly terrestrial, not to say trivial, adventures.

Actually, those late-period Robotman strips were not my favorites. I had been hooked on the unlikely idea of a chatty little robot, inexplicably hanging out with a nerdy everyman and his ex-frat friend Moondog. The one below, from 1988, is a good example--featuring R-Man and Monty's "cool" friend Gary. You can get lots more info at the online Robotman Memorial Library site. So, when I get my Brooklyn waterfront condo duplex (w/ BQE vw, of course), you can be sure that Robotman will have a place of honor.

Pinwheel Boy Loves Train Delays

Posters on the subway platform at 82nd St./Jackson Heights rarely offer anything interesting to look at, much less read. So I was pleased to see this impromptu character show up on the Lim College advert.

Vying with the Cardvaark for subway mascot status?