CharlieTickets

Assuaging his T guilt

adamg — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:49:43 -0400

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.

Not all CharlieTickets created equal

adamg — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:09:54 -0400

Boblothrope reports trying to convert some CharlieTickets into CharlieCards only to be told he couldn't because they were already marked as discounted or something (he got them as not-on-time reimbursements). But he discovered a quick workaround involving adding all of five cents to the tickets, then trading in the new ones you get:

... Maybe if I really want to waste the T's money I'll put each 5 cent transaction on a credit card. ...

Meanwhile, in the "You're kidding, right?" department, state Rep. Denis Guyer wants a law forcing the T to return dollar bills rather than coins to people who put cash in CharlieMachines. Guyer, D-Boonies, could care less that $18 worth of Sacageweas are annnoying - he's looking out after the interests of Crane & Co., a company in his district that makes the paper used to print dollar bills.

The tribulations of the CharlieTicket commuter

adamg — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:47:26 -0500

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.

Dan Grabauskas says this sort of thing doesn't happen

adamg — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:15:02 -0400

Todd reports he puts his monthly pass in the card reader and a guy rushes by him and crashes through. And then he's forced to do the same basic thing because the T's computers require a 20-minute wait between pass use.

Meanwhile, Lis Riba wonders if T honcho Grabauskas might have a closer touch with T reality if he actually took the T.

Earlier:
The farce that is fare collection on the T.

Forget cans: The new money is in CharlieTickets

adamg — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 10:05:26 -0500

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.

Mac Daniel rifles through the trash

adamg — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:48:08 -0500

At the bottom of Mac Daniel's latest paean to the CharlieCard (but just before he acknowledges there might be one tiny small problem with them), he writes:

We also checked out reports that folks were throwing away CharlieTickets that still had value on them. We're not saying it's not true, but after donning latex-free rubber gloves, we rummaged in the trash and found 20 CharlieTickets. After running each one through the machine and checking their values, not one cent was found.

Oh, no! He's not doubting The Newman there, is he? Yes, he is! He's doubting The Newman! Word to the wise, pal: DON'T DOUBT THE NEWMAN!

Speaking of CharlieCards, Rcolonna tries one out and likes it.

What happens to the money left over on CharlieTickets?

adamg — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:37:27 -0500

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.

When Charlie machines reboot

adamg — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:28:17 -0500

A BadTransit correspondent gets to watch as an entire row of Charlie machines reboots at Porter Square - right into Windows XP.

A reason to wish for CharlieTickets

adamg — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:25:17 -0500

Or stun guns for riders, Mike writes - in a description of what happened after he slid a $5 bill under the window at the UMass/JFK token booth and asked for two tokens:

"Waddya want?" he snapped at me.

I said: "Two. I wanna go and come back."

"Just tell me what you need!" the guy snarled.

"Two please," I repeated, flatly. ...

He was spoiling for a fight, and was grumping and griping beneath his breath.

I talked over him, but matter-of-factly: Two. Two. Two. ...

"Here," he snarked. And added, inexplicably: "And it's my fault. Remember that." ...

Read more

Sorry Charlie cards

adamg — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 16:58:54 -0400

Evan plays with a CharlieTicket at the Blue Line Airport station and doesn't like it one bit:

... Not only is it not user friendly (imagine elderly people coming in from overseas, presented with a wall of touch-screen ticket dispensers), but it's fundamentally flawed and fails to follow the tried-and-true designs of other electronic fare systems in the US, such as the Washington DC Metro system. Like the Metro, you simply insert your Charlie Ticket into a slot as you enter the turnstile. However, unlike the Metro, where you collect the card AFTER you walk through the opened gates, the scanned Charlie Card is ejected BEHIND the passenger as he or she waits (for about 5 seconds) for the tinted plastic gate to open. There's flaw#1 (and, of course, one of the MBTA employees chastised me for not collecting my ticket and holding up people in line behind me the first time I used it). ...

But wait, it gets better, exnewport reports:

I was told by the MBTA geniuses that my guests could use the Charlie Card at T stations, such as airports, to get in and out of the subway system...but: Wonderland is supposed to be set up for this, according to them....they are not: They have all the turnstiles blocked....REAL MBTA people are there to direct you to "flash your pass", or go back to the token booth to get "EXACT CHANGE ONLY: $1.25 ONLY!!! NO TOKENS!!!!"...so...since my guests will start all their trips into Boston at Wonderland.....getting a Charlie Card won't work at that T stop.... and tokens won't work...do we all have to carry around wads of one-dollar bills and lots of quarters??? Why do this confusing thing the weekend of July 4th ???? And: did you know that $$$ "put into" a Charlie Card is not refundable??? So: do you get to "ride forever 'neath the streets oof Boston???....Be a man that never returns???.....any ideas???