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By T Riders Union - 10/4/06 - 12:05 pm

Sick of poor service, uneven automated fare collection machine implementation, and rising fares? Think the new fare increases (from $1.25 to $2.25 cash) are outrageous?

The T Riders Union (TRU) is going to march on the MBTA tomorrow at 12:30pm at MBTA Headquarters (10 Park Plaza, intersection of Park and Charles.) Frustrated riders who are trying to prevent increase of 29-83% to cash and Charlie Ticket fares will march to the monthly MBTA Board meeting, and present over 1,200 signatures opposing the fare increases.

Voice your frustration by joining us tomorrow.

By adamg - 9/25/06 - 11:13 pm

Apparently, if you are not quite spry enough, the new CharlieGates can close right on you - and they will hurt:

... Why isn't there a sensor on these, like elevator doors, so they don't close on a body. I was one step behind the guy exiting in front of me; and I've never seen these new gates close THAT fast behind someone exiting. ...

By adamg - 9/21/06 - 1:06 pm

On BadTransit, Joe Bowden reports witnessing an innovative new way to beat the CharlieGates, although part of the scheme's success involved nobody caring:

... His buddy came in, and no one seemed to care as the buzzer went off indicating that a fare had not been paid. ...

By adamg - 9/18/06 - 12:38 pm

Because the T apparently failed to consider what riders would do with used-up CharlieTickets, stations that do support them now look like your basic convenience-store after everybody's realized they didn't win the Powerball - the damn things are scattered everywhere. Mac Daniel admonishes riders to stop being such slobs, while also getting an acknowledgment from a T flack that CharlieTrashcans are still two to three weeks away.

By adamg - 9/12/06 - 2:29 pm

When Josh Ourisman was getting ready to move from San Francisco to Cambridge, he puzzled over all the complaints on Boston-area blogs about the MBTA - which seemed a far more convenient system than his BART.

Thanks to the T's current dual token/CharlieCard system, he's puzzled no more:

By adamg - 9/1/06 - 2:48 pm

BadTransit reports that the T has issued large envelopes to drivers on some Watertown routes to collect cash because the new Charlie machines onboard their buses are already broken and unable to take dollar bills.

By adamg - 9/1/06 - 12:39 pm

Yes, those CharlieTickets can be so annoying. Thankfully, at least for today, the T left a nice open gate at NEMC for anybody who didn't want to bother going through that whole buy-a-ticket thing - which I discovered when I saw somebody taking advantage of it.

By adamg - 8/28/06 - 11:52 am

BadTransit posts a report from the Watertown yard this morning in which supervisors were forced to just wave large numbers of people onto buses because the CharlieCard system was taking so long a bus backlog was starting.

Somebody else who was at the Watertown yard this morning, however, thinks commuters will eventualy get the hang of the thing.

By adamg - 7/31/06 - 11:02 pm

BadTransit describes just how easy it is for a group of people to beat the fare at a card-machine station:

... Noticing there was no T employee anywhere to be seen, one of them bought a ticket from the vending machine, put it in, and entered. He turned around, waved his hand in front of the sensor as if to exit, and the doors opened and the the other 4 or 5 walked in. He laughed saying he probably could have just reached around the plastic door, waved his hand over the sensor, and opened it without paying anything. ...

By adamg - 7/10/06 - 10:18 pm

Mike Mennonno relays the news that the T Riders Union is planning something interesting for an MBTA board meeting that starts at 1 p.m. on Thursday at the Transportation Building in Park Square:

By adamg - 7/2/06 - 9:29 am

BadTransit reports on coming upon the source of loud banging at the Aquarium stop:

... A gleaming aluminum-finished bank of the MBTA's "Automated fare collection" equipment and an MBTA worker - one of the T's "Ambassadors" - who was, in John Bolton style, kicking the living s--- out of the equipment. ...

By adamg - 6/13/06 - 12:02 pm

Some rolls of paper towels:

... [T]he 136 bus this morning had over 15 seats that were full of dirty water puddles, rendering them unusable. Let me repeat that: more than 15 seats were unusable. ...

By adamg - 6/8/06 - 8:59 am

Mike Mennonno offers up a behind-the-scenes look at the T fare-hike rally he organized in Copley Square on Tuesday. Word of advice to punk socialists and Deval Patrick groupies: Stay far away from him:

[The Patrick groupies] were as disgusting in their way as the impotent designer socialists. A bunch of Barbie and Ken dolls with super-sized campaign signs who just showed up in a clump and didn't mix with the rabble, either. ...

By adamg - 6/6/06 - 2:12 pm

4 p.m. on the Dartmouth side of Copley Square - followed by a procession to the MBTA hearing in the BPL.

By adamg - 6/1/06 - 3:57 pm

Mike Mennonno continues to gear up for next Tuesday's fare-hike rally in Copley Square (4-4:30 p.m., followed by an entrance en masse into the T's fare-hike hearing at the BPL). He discusses ways the T could improve itself, starting with really communicating with its riders - and listening to them. A blog and forum on the MBTA Web site would get things going, he writes.

By adamg - 5/27/06 - 1:15 pm

T Justice's petition will be presented to state Senate President Robert Travaglini, since the legislature could help alleviate the problem by changing the finance laws under which the T operates.

This is in contrast to MassPIRG's online petition, which is aimed at the MBTA's board of directors.

By adamg - 5/26/06 - 2:24 pm

MassPIRG has an online petition against the fare increase proposed by the MBTA.

Via Boonville Blog.

Also check T-Rage for the latest on the fare-related boycott and demonstration on June 6.

By adamg - 5/24/06 - 9:57 pm

Part of the reason for next year's planned fare hikes is the legislation under which the T operates. Mike Mennonno attends one of those MBTA fare-increase "workshops" and learns from a member of the MBTA Riders Oversight Committee that the T isn't legally allowed to ask for legislative changes. So it's up to riders to lobby. He also provides an update on plans for protests on June 6.

By adamg - 5/24/06 - 4:18 pm

Increased ridership and less angry behavior would be the result. Derek Lumpkins makes the case. It's a platform Chika could endorse for her office.

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