Hose the tourists
I guess the T is trying to close its budget gap on the backs of visitors and tourists.
I had guests visit me this weekend. When we went into the subway I found they could only buy 1 or 7 day visitor passes. The three day pass wasn't an option. The CSA claimed he had never heard of a 3 day pass. I had other guests visit in April and bought 3 day passes with no problem - so I went to the T web site when I got home. Indeed, the three day pass is gone. Interesting they changed their web site and the Charlie machine software so discretely and quickly (for the T that is).
So now everyone coming into Boston for the weekend has to buy a 7 day pass and throw it away when they leave town... Perhaps an attempt to continue to close that budget gap??? (Since the date/length of the visitor pass is printed on the pass at time of purchase, there is no 'production' cost savings to eliminating the 3 day pass.
Comments
hard for me to get outraged here
So the 7-day pass is $15. Even if you only use it 3 days, that's still only $5 a day, which is still a pretty great deal. If you take 4 subway rides a day, it more than pays for itself.
I compare this to a recent weekend trip to NYC, where I easily spent $20 on subway fares over the course of the trip.
How many days in NYC?
The NYC Day pass was $7 last summer - it may have gone up. If you take four rides, you are ahead of the game.
NYC fares
are at http://mta.info/metrocard . Currently $2 per ride, $7.50 for a one-day pass, $25 for a seven-day pass, $47 for 14 days, $81 for 30 days. But I think they have a fare increase coming soon.
what 3-day pass?
I don't recall the T ever having a 3-day pass. Ever since the last fare increase (and the universal adoption of Charlie technology) there have been 1-day passes for $9 (not worth it) and 7-day passes for $15 (very much worth it).
When the fare increase was first proposed (with higher fares than were finally adopted), the proposal had a 3-day pass, but it went away in the final decision.
I am looking right now at the leaflet the T passed out immediately after the fare increase ('Effective January 1, 2007'), and there's no 3-day pass in it.
My sister was here in April
My sister was here in April and we bought a 3-day pass just fine at the Harvard sq machines... Maybe those machines have old software? Anyone going through Harvard tonight?
Do you remember what you paid?
I'll be passing through Harvard Square tonight and will check. But I don't remember ever seeing a 3-day pass on any MBTA printed material or websites since 1/1/07.
I have a copy of the pamphlet the T printed when they first proposed the current fares. They wanted to charge $9 for one day, $16 for three days, $18 for seven days. Some time during the subsequent public hearings, they got rid of the three-day option and reduced the price of the seven-day pass.
the old T 'visitor passes'
I stand slightly corrected here. Before the 1/1/07 fare increase and the introduction of Charlie technology, the T sold something called 'The Boston Visitor Pass', which was a card with scratch-off date numbers on it. You had to show it to the bus or streetcar driver or the token clerk. This really was a ripoff, because it cost (get ready):
1 day - $7.50
3 days - $18
7 days - $35
and that was when subway fare was still $1.25!
The Charlie system, despite its flaws, is much better than what it replaced.
Welcome to Boston, I'd like
Welcome to Boston, I'd like you to meet my friend. His name is Charlie.
Don't tourists use charlie cards just like everyone else?
The 1-day or 7-day pass can
The 1-day or 7-day pass can be stored on a Charlie card if people feel like it. (Although there doesn't seem to be a discount over paper ticket.) But the point of these things is that these are passes. Tourists may want to use the MBTA a whole lot to get around town such that buying a pass is a good deal, but a monthly pass would be overkill if they're just in town for a few days. Thus, they buy passes for shorter periods of time.
I've never tried to load a
I've never tried to load a visitor pass onto a CharlieCard, so I'm not sure if it's possible given the quirks of the fare system. Of course, loading one onto a CC prevents it from being used on the Commuter Rail, but I'm not sure how many tourists actually use the CR. Most won't even go on the Orange Line and hang out almost exclusively on the Green and Red.
Last time I tried to put a
Last time I tried to put a pass on a Charlie Card (needed to do lots of errands and was a piedi for several days running, so $15/wk worked for me), it was not an option.
The 1-day pass is the real problem and it hurts locals
7 days for $15 is a very good deal
1 day for $9 is just horrible because someone who's local is unable to save up their errands and get them all done in a day at a discount, and I think that is the real shame in this.
Also, when I used to visit Boston (and now when I visit NYC) if I have a visitor pass with some life left in it, i give it to the first visitor-looking person I see walking up to buy tickets, at the end of my last public transit ride.
yes, it's probably against the rules. but wtf. It makes the other person very happy and it's paid for. I should be able to use my money however i want.
For some reason, I recall
For some reason, I recall three-day passes as well. I had family in town this weekend as well and planned on getting one for them, but couldn't find it. Maybe I just got confused with some other city, but...you're definitely not alone in wondering about its existence.
I remember seeing them
I remember seeing them advertised at Hynes back in 2004. It was a permanent notice over the stairs, across a beam.
old visitor passes
those were the old scratch-off paper passes that I described here. Both those and the 'Weekly Combo Pass' went away when Charlie arrived everywhere.
$15.00 is not a bad deal at
$15.00 is not a bad deal at all, even if it is only for two days. A tourist is much more likely to use the subway more then a local. I would venture to say most locals take one trip to work and one trip home with a possible side trip in between on a daily basis. A tourist on the other hand is here for a few days so will be going crazy to hit all the stops and could easily rack up several trips in a day.
That comes out to slightly more then 60 dollars for a month, which is not all that bad.
Monthly pass is $59
so the 7-day passes are, per day, only slightly more expensive than a monthly pass.
Which is an incredible deal
Which is an incredible deal because most places charge you quite a bit more when you start to cut up the time frames.