Pol pushes T to swap out coins for bills

BOSTON. Denis Guyer is just another pol who wants to take the money out of your pocket. Guyer’s twist is that he wants to replace the dollar coins spit out by MBTA vending machines with paper bills. Guyer filed legislation that would require all state agencies, quasi-state agencies and transit authorities to provide change only in paper form for denominations $5 and more.

MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said he was uncertain whether Guyer’s proposal would conflict with the federal law that requires transportation agencies to dispense coins. He pointed out that many customers are using debit and credit cards rather than bills to purchase tickets, and said the cost of the Guyer plan would be prohibitive.

“To redesign physically the machines and then redo the software would be in the millions of dollars for us,” he said.