David's CharlieCard FAQ
Nov. 30th, 2006 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmazeQ: Where in greater Camberville can I get one of these CharlieCard widgets?
A: They will be distributed "at key locations during rush hours" starting next Monday, 4 December, including Alewife, Davis, and Lechmere (all three on both 5 and 8 December). See the PDF here for full dates and locations.
The T hasn't been doing a great job distributing information on the new fare system. My information largely comes, as usual, from the ne.transportation newsgroup, plus a brochure that seems to have been distributed on the floors of rapid transit cars.
Q: What's the difference between a CharlieCard and a CharlieTicket?
A: The new fare machines are handing out CharlieTickets. You can put any monthly pass on them, or you can put some amount of money on them, which is deducted from every time you pass through a gate. The CharlieCards appear to be prox cards with approximately the same mechanic, but you don't need to actually swipe them, just tap them on a farebox or gate.
Q: Do I want a CharlieCard?
A: Yes! The only cases I can think of where you don't are if you'll be on a pass that's only available in CharlieTicket form, and you think you'll be getting that pass indefinitely. You'll pay the (17% higher) cash fare whenever you use a CharlieTicket that's not a pass. You don't have to use the card if there are better options for you, but it's probably still useful to have it.
Q: How much are fares going up anyways?
A: The T's advertising that the base subway rate is going up from $1.25 to $1.70, or 36%. But the cash fare is going up to $2.00, for a 60% increase. If you have a subway pass now, that's getting replaced by a LinkPass, and your pass price goes up from $44/month to $59, or +34%. If you currently have a combo pass, that's getting replaced by the LinkPass as well, but it goes down from $71 to $59, or -17%.
Q: Other strange changes?
A: All of the exception cases went away. Boarding and disembarking at Braintree, boardings on the D line, outbound surface boardings on the Green Line all cost the standard fare (1 subway fare to board, nothing to get off). A couple of free-to-pseudo-free bus routes (e.g., #1 from Dudley Square to Mass Ave station) are gone. The Sunday T slime is gone.
Q: I ride the commuter rail...
A: The commuter rail doesn't take the CharlieCard. At all. Can't pay a cash fare with it, can't put passes on it. Similarly, I believe it doesn't take stored-value CharlieTickets; you must use a CharlieTicket pass or cash. Zone 1B (locally, Porter and West Medford) is getting merged into Zone 1A. A Zone 1A commuter rail pass (only on CharlieTicket) costs the same amount as the LinkPass, and gets you all local bus and subway service plus CR zone 1A and the inner harbor ferries.
Q: So, if I commute from Porterish...
A: On a lark about once a month I take the commuter rail from Porter to North Station. That's currently free with a subway pass. In the new system you must have a zone 1A commuter rail pass (or better), which otherwise costs the same and has the same functionality as the LinkPass. I plan to get a CharlieCard, never use it, and also get zone 1A monthly passes.
Q: Other pass changes?
A: New passes specifically for express busses, also only available in CharlieTicket format (though you can pay fares with a CharlieCard). Commuter boat fares are now in between zones 4 and 5, which should be about the same as the CR fare when Greenbush opens. 1-day and 7-day passes (good for 24 and 168 hours from purchase, respectively) are more widely available. The weekly combo pass went away in favor of the 7-day pass. The combo plus pass vanished (since there's no longer a special Braintree fare).
Q: How anonymous is the new system?
A: My understanding is that there's going to be a big free-for-all to get the new cards on Monday, and they won't be taking personal information. You can add to the CharlieCards at any vending machine with cash. They will probably record where an individual card/ticket has been. You have the option of "registering" your CharlieCard and giving your personal information to the T; if you do, and you lose your card, you can get a new card with your old pass/money.
Q: What are you doing?
A: I plan to get a CharlieCard on Monday, probably at Davis, and let it sit unloved in a drawer at home. Meanwhile, I'll keep buying monthly commuter rail Zone 1A CharlieTickets so that, if I want to take the commuter rail from Porter to North Station, it's still free.
A: They will be distributed "at key locations during rush hours" starting next Monday, 4 December, including Alewife, Davis, and Lechmere (all three on both 5 and 8 December). See the PDF here for full dates and locations.
The T hasn't been doing a great job distributing information on the new fare system. My information largely comes, as usual, from the ne.transportation newsgroup, plus a brochure that seems to have been distributed on the floors of rapid transit cars.
Q: What's the difference between a CharlieCard and a CharlieTicket?
A: The new fare machines are handing out CharlieTickets. You can put any monthly pass on them, or you can put some amount of money on them, which is deducted from every time you pass through a gate. The CharlieCards appear to be prox cards with approximately the same mechanic, but you don't need to actually swipe them, just tap them on a farebox or gate.
Q: Do I want a CharlieCard?
A: Yes! The only cases I can think of where you don't are if you'll be on a pass that's only available in CharlieTicket form, and you think you'll be getting that pass indefinitely. You'll pay the (17% higher) cash fare whenever you use a CharlieTicket that's not a pass. You don't have to use the card if there are better options for you, but it's probably still useful to have it.
Q: How much are fares going up anyways?
A: The T's advertising that the base subway rate is going up from $1.25 to $1.70, or 36%. But the cash fare is going up to $2.00, for a 60% increase. If you have a subway pass now, that's getting replaced by a LinkPass, and your pass price goes up from $44/month to $59, or +34%. If you currently have a combo pass, that's getting replaced by the LinkPass as well, but it goes down from $71 to $59, or -17%.
Q: Other strange changes?
A: All of the exception cases went away. Boarding and disembarking at Braintree, boardings on the D line, outbound surface boardings on the Green Line all cost the standard fare (1 subway fare to board, nothing to get off). A couple of free-to-pseudo-free bus routes (e.g., #1 from Dudley Square to Mass Ave station) are gone. The Sunday T slime is gone.
Q: I ride the commuter rail...
A: The commuter rail doesn't take the CharlieCard. At all. Can't pay a cash fare with it, can't put passes on it. Similarly, I believe it doesn't take stored-value CharlieTickets; you must use a CharlieTicket pass or cash. Zone 1B (locally, Porter and West Medford) is getting merged into Zone 1A. A Zone 1A commuter rail pass (only on CharlieTicket) costs the same amount as the LinkPass, and gets you all local bus and subway service plus CR zone 1A and the inner harbor ferries.
Q: So, if I commute from Porterish...
A: On a lark about once a month I take the commuter rail from Porter to North Station. That's currently free with a subway pass. In the new system you must have a zone 1A commuter rail pass (or better), which otherwise costs the same and has the same functionality as the LinkPass. I plan to get a CharlieCard, never use it, and also get zone 1A monthly passes.
Q: Other pass changes?
A: New passes specifically for express busses, also only available in CharlieTicket format (though you can pay fares with a CharlieCard). Commuter boat fares are now in between zones 4 and 5, which should be about the same as the CR fare when Greenbush opens. 1-day and 7-day passes (good for 24 and 168 hours from purchase, respectively) are more widely available. The weekly combo pass went away in favor of the 7-day pass. The combo plus pass vanished (since there's no longer a special Braintree fare).
Q: How anonymous is the new system?
A: My understanding is that there's going to be a big free-for-all to get the new cards on Monday, and they won't be taking personal information. You can add to the CharlieCards at any vending machine with cash. They will probably record where an individual card/ticket has been. You have the option of "registering" your CharlieCard and giving your personal information to the T; if you do, and you lose your card, you can get a new card with your old pass/money.
Q: What are you doing?
A: I plan to get a CharlieCard on Monday, probably at Davis, and let it sit unloved in a drawer at home. Meanwhile, I'll keep buying monthly commuter rail Zone 1A CharlieTickets so that, if I want to take the commuter rail from Porter to North Station, it's still free.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:06 pm (UTC)Sniff.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:11 pm (UTC)Uhh, so, I get a monthly bus pass through my employer; I just got a December CharlieTicket, so I'm assuming I will get a CharliePass in January (and then not receive any more physical things). Are you saying that this is a pass only, and I need to get another CharlieCard for subway fares? I can't load cash for fares onto it as well?
That's dumb. If the "Combo" is getting cheaper, I should probably just switch to that.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:26 pm (UTC)But I don't know if that made it into the implementation. It's the MBTA, so I'm guessing not. I'm eight phone calls, three emails, and three weeks into trying to get a $12.50 refund from a CT bug, and allegedly the waiting list for refunds is at 11+ weeks and growing...
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 07:21 pm (UTC)I'm wondering what will happen if I can't get to any of these free-for-all distribution points. (I'm still immobile with my back injury) Could I get a friend to go and pick up two cards? Maybe at different times or different places?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 02:35 am (UTC)My current combo pass works just fine on the 350 and the 351. But the LinkPass will work only on the 350.
Have you been able to figure out whether the "pay the difference" thing will still apply to express busses?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 03:31 am (UTC)Now I will be able to do the appropriate calculations to decide on a pass. Yay!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 05:25 am (UTC)I asked at work about how they handle lost or stolen CharlieCards. The transportation office at MGH claims they can replace them, although I am not sure I trust whatever system is in place to work efficiently at first. I assume this means that either the hospital is giving employee information to the T (something they have not mentioned) or are acting as a go-between in this case.
It will be interesting to see how well the cards work.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 06:15 am (UTC)Oh, no! Dim Sum runs just won't be the same without T slime!
I hear that the corporate pass thingy is going to be: December passes have already arrived and are normal. For January, you'll get CharlieCards instead, which will update magically in the future. The January order, at least, lets you order Subway Passes and Combo Passes. These cost the same, and work the same. (But I think it's still possible that the whole fare plan will fall through, and in that case they'd give you the old things for the old prices, so they need to distinguish in the order.) This is, literally, what I overheard and surmised from the people puzzling over the order form across the room at work.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 01:08 pm (UTC)(Did you notice how, when passes moved to the CharlieTicket format, most of the small print on the back vanished, including the mention of the T slime? The T claimed at that point that, oh no, they had no plans to get rid of it...)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 12:37 am (UTC)