CharlieTickets

Joe Pesaturo at the MBTA passes along a letter to the T from Daniel Verinder of Jamaica Plain:

Recently, I was preparing to enter the gates at the southbound T station at Kendall when a passenger said to me, "I'm going to go through with you," meaning that they were going to enter for free on my pass. Without thinking about it, I said, "OK." But as I entered the train car, I started thinking about how unreasonable this action was. I am a big fan of public transit, including the MBTA, and I did not like the though that I had cost the MBTA money. ... Regardless of the fare-evader's economic situation, the MBTA should not be the one to suffer for their lack of funding.

So Verinder bought a CharlieTicket and sent it back to the T and made a donation to Alternatives for Community and Environment. And next time, he says, he'll pay for a CharlieTicket for somebody who wants to get in with him for free.

Thanks to delays in bring the miracle that is the CharlieCard to the boonies, Jemima Pereira is forced to use a FrankenCharlieTicket, which causes her grief like you CharlieCard users couldn't imagine, from her fingers getting sucked into the slot (which hurts) to the general disdain of half the T's bus and trolley drivers. And now her ticket won't even work at Government Center because of a software glitch:

So I have a suggestion for the MBTA. Why don't you get a copy of the software on the turnstiles at Kenmore and put it on the turnstiles at Government Center, eh? ... And here's an even better suggestion: stop running a major transit system on WindowsXP.

A couple weeks ago, the Globe's Mac Daniel all but called Ron Newman a liar for saying there was gold in them thar tossed-aside CharlieTickets.

HAH! We said then DON'T DOUBT THE NEWMAN. Official proof comes in today's Metro (the CharlieTicket of local newspapers: you find them lying around all over the place): As of late last week, the Somerville resident had 30 tickets worth $55.

Newman posts:

I'm wondering what the reaction will be at the Downtown Crossing T office when I show up with 40+ CharlieTickets and ask to have them combined onto one CharlieCard.

Any ideas are welcome for who to donate the card to.

Dave Copeland has a CharlieTicket with $1.50 left on it:

... Is there a way to use that $1.50, or does the T permanently "hold" it for me? I'm almost certain I can't add 50 cents to the card to get it to an even $2 to cover a ride. Or can I? It's not really a big deal to me, but when you think of the thousands of riders like me stuck in Charlie Ticket limbo, that adds up to a nice chunk of change to say, plug a budget hole. ...

Funny you should ask, Dave. Charlie on the MBTA was pondering that same exact question:

... As CharlieTickets are used they drop below the $1.50(bus) or $2(subway) level and value is needed to be added. Riders being told about the CharlieCard are then adding new value to the smartcard and simply discarding CharlieTickets with small amounts of unused value on them. Those nickle, dimes and quarters add up fast and the T is pocketing the money.

Was this by design or simply an oversight? Only 10 Park Plaza knows the answer to that. ...

Ron Newman went around Central and Davis stations tonight picking up CharlieTickets people had thrown out:

Four of the six tickets I tried still had value ... So the next time you see discarded $5 tickets and a Charlie vending machine with no line, try putting the tickets into the machine. You may be surprised what you get.