CharlieCards
CharlieCards to get CharlieAds
By adamg - 12/20/11 - 8:22 amThe Boston Business Journal reports the MBTA plans to go ahead with an idea from a local startup - which the T says, however, is not guaranteed the contract to implement it all.
Ed. question: Didn't the old T passes sometimes have ads on them? The article doesn't answer the question of how to avoid Coraline-like ads on cards designed to last a decade.
CharlieCard? What CharlieCard? I don't see any CharlieCard
By adamg - 12/7/11 - 5:03 pmA concerned T rider files this report via e-mail:
CharlieCards seem to be expiring today in spite of the promised extension.
This morning, my everyday card with a monthly pass on it came up as "EXPIRED" and wouldn't let me in. The attendant at Davis said that this was happening a lot - he gave me a new card, told me to go to Downtown Crossing to get the pass transferred over, and to tailgate someone to get in this morning.
A dozen or so of my co-workers have mentioned having the same thing happen today. Did the promised extension not happen? I thought my card's expiration had been reset to some time in 2013, but I can't even check any more - the fare vending machines immediately refuse to have anything to do with an expired card. I'm wondering if the card expiration the FVM displays got updated, but some other expiration date didn't. Similarly, the card has disappeared from the my account in the online MyCharlie system entirely.
Impending fifth anniversary of CharlieCards could mean a trip to Downtown Crossing
By adamg - 9/19/11 - 8:55 amCharlieCards have a five-year expiration date, as Ron Newman discovered. Since they were introduced in late 2006, that means lots of them are going to be expiring soon. Any value you have left on an expired card won't just go poof, however. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says:
T riders may have the value on their expiring cards transferred to a new one at the T's Customer Service windows at Downtown Crossing (in the underground corridor across from Macy's). We'll be launching a public information campaign very soon.
UPDATE: Pesaturo adds: "Customers with stored value only on their CharlieCards need not worry. Their CharlieCards will be good for another two years past this fall's expiration date."
Quick way for the T to raise money
By adamg - 3/4/11 - 11:38 pmPossible CharlieCard side effect: Fewer performers underground?
By adamg - 8/10/10 - 12:02 pmHarold M. Clemens reports he wanted to reward a cool harmonica and guitar player on an Orange Line platform at Downtown Crossing yesterday, but realized he couldn't, because he had no change:
... in an instant I recognized what must be an externality - Charlie Cards have likely put a pinch on pan handlers, curb-side musicians and others. to be more specific: since automated machines have obsoleted the exchange of petty cash at train stations, passengers probably have less exchange change, if any at all, to give to impromptu performers.
that's kinda messed up and not only because of the human element of it. curb-side performers are often good entertainment and pleasant background noise while waiting for transportation. it's safe to say they've become hallmarks of many major cities. ...
Growing number of credit-card thieves using them to put money on CharlieCards
By adamg - 8/10/10 - 10:32 amFor your basic crime-obsession needs, nothing beats MassMostWanted, where you get a daily dose of ne'er-do-wells doing, well, ne'er. Of late, I've noticed a common theme among many of the reports on people wanted for stealing credit cards, such as this report:
Arlington has had 3 motor vehicle breaks where wallets were stolen and the credit cards were used in Boston and Cambridge. The suspects use the cards to purchase Charlie Cards on the T, travel into South Boston, use the cards at 7-11 stores and gas stations to purchase cigarettes, Marlboro and Newport. They then take the T back to Cambridge where they use the cards in Harvard Square, C'est Bon Market, 7-11's and Hess Gas.
Complete with photos of a couple of the alleged perps at a T stop.
Turning your cell phone into a CharlieCard
By adamg - 6/30/10 - 8:24 amStep-by-step directions - acetone is involved.
Skeletal remains of a CharlieCard
By adamg - 6/22/10 - 10:21 amFunktionslust reports that if you put a CharlieCard in acetone for about 20 minutes, all of the plastic dissolves and what you're left with is some strands of copper (which act as an antenna) and the RFID chip that does all the magic. Photo.
Tomorrow, she plans to try it out to see if it still works.
UPDATE: It does.
Charlie should take off his hat today to honor the woman who gave him life
By adamg - 12/1/09 - 11:51 amBess Lomax Hawes, who wrote "Charlie on the MTA," has died at age 88, the Globe reports.
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