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Those imps at the MBTA pull quite the April Fool's joke on monthly passholders

Shortly after 9 a.m., it seems, fare machines at Red and Green Line stations stopped accepting credit and debit cards, hosing monthly passholders who thought they could just waltz right in, replenish their cards and get on the T.

Just in case riders failed to appreciate the humor of the situation, the T stationed a particularly jocular CSA at Davis, according to Sweetadelinevt:

So if six fare machines don't work, and no one can buy a new pass, shouldn't the operator let them through gate? He said, "not my problem."

Fix your fare machines at Davis. Then get rid of the operator who laughed at people and told them to walk to Porter.

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Comments

sorry, but you represent the MBTA and their equipment was faulty. So indeed, it is your problem. Open the gates and let the people who pay your salary through! you A

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What part of "Not my problem" don't you understand?

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"Not MY problem".

There, fixed...

;~}

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happened to me in NYC with the MetroCard machines once, and I got the same answer.

Yeah, I'm sorry, no matter WHAT the city, if you're an employee of a system that's broken, it's your problem to find a solution.

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And how are you enjoying your visit to our fine planet?

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Don't worry. I'm sure the T union will reprimand and retrain the worker since they only care about providing the best possible service for their customers and taxpayers.

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or give him a raise for his bad behavior

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That's the plan #MBTA

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It wasn't his problem. It was his naptime.

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I ran into this at Alewife last night. I tried 3 machines and no luck. Figured my debit card was wonky. Tried a fourth machine and it worked. Guess I should have reported it so the T could have got to work fixing the issue last night.

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Guess I should have reported it so the T could have got to work fixing the issue last night.

Ha ha ha, yeah, I know, right?

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The worst is when you try a bunch of times and then the bank shuts your card off for potential suspicious activity! Ohhh MBTA.

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Has that ever happened?

The most common cause of cards being rejected is flaky magstripe readers in the machine. The next possibility is a problem with the T's credit computer (which results in red "No Credit or Debit" messages appearing on the screen before you start).

In either case, your bank wouldn't even know you were attempting to use your card.

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Yeah, it's happened to my husband.

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Yup, happened to me buying my March pass. It took three tries, and even though the first two gave me and error, when I called the bank to take the hold off of my card, they told me all three went through and canceled the first two for me.

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hah same thing happened at NQ with me last night. Good thing we re-upped in advance, I NEVER do that

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If you buy your monthly pass through work, get a Zone 1A pass instead. It isn't a charlie card, but, then again, it isn't a charlie card.

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What does that have to do with the T's credit card system breaking down?

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It meant that I could spring the gate at Wellington and hold it so some screwed-over people could come streaming through.

But, yeah, wouldn't help with the stupidity that went down yesterday.

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Ummm, why?

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Well-played, MBTA, well-played.

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CSA sounds like a good candidate for Tosh.O's "Dick of the Week"

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Did anyone get the badge number of that asshole?

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MBTA staff hasn't worn the aviator style caps with numbered badges in a loooooooooooooong time.

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They don't need no Stinkin' Badges!

(You don't know how long I've been waiting to say that...)

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What would you do with his badge number? Pin it to your dartboard? Conjure voodoo spells? You don't actually think that reporting him to the MBTA would get him in trouble, do you?

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Conjuring voodoo spells might work. I could put the badge number on a CharlieTicket and stick pins in it.

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Either there was more than one station attendant at Davis or he changed his tune at some point - he was letting people through the gate no problem while the machines were not working just before 9AM.

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what a fantastic attitude that mbta guy has. great way to look at life. dick.

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what happens after April 8th?

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You could well be right. Those #@$%@ things do run XP ...

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Riders better hope the CSR at F.H. isn't that 'mean spirited' Jamaican woman.

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At Malden, I was told to go to the ATM and get cash if I wanted to get on.

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Have some cash in your pocket until credit, debit, and cash are all dropped for bitcoins and EZ-Pass.

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The T needs to announce an official policy for this situation. (They also need to make sure it doesn't happen as often, but credit system failures will eventually happen.)

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The T had a moment, specifically, the release of the Sunday Globe through this morning, where it should have used the enormous goodwill generated by the extended weekend service (when was the last time you heard people actually singing the T's praises?) to make a very public pitch for the legislature to fix the funding problem. It could have been a "just look what we can do if we get the resources" campaign.

And then comes Tuesday morning and it's back to the same old, same old with no ground having been gained. *Sigh*

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dot com

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Not sure if it's the same problem but I couldn't get the machine (which only accepted cards) to accept my ATM card at Prudential coming inbound around 5:30pm. It said, "Unable to reach bank". I only used it b/c the one that accepted cash was all taped up and there was an error message. The one that wouldn't accept cards accepted mine eventually although not sure if it took money out of my account yet.

Yes, I considered jumping the turnstile but it worked before taking that step.

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The buses are often choking too and they just let you ride free.

And most bus runs I take are pretty full.

I bet fare wastage in the bus division alone exceeds ad income.

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Now that I've become a regular bus commuter, the number of times I see a fare box that won't take CharlieTickets, with the resultant riders boarding for free, galls me.

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