The MBTA announced today its long-awaited next-gen fare system - years late and now approaching $1 billion to install - begins Aug. 1 when T subway, trolley and bus riders will be able to board with a credit card, phone or even watch rather than having to have a CharlieCard in hand.
A one-step option for pay-as-you-go travel, riders can save time by using their contactless credit/debit card, phone, or watch instead of purchasing and reloading a CharlieCard. Riders can look for the contactless symbol, tap their card or device on the reader at the fare gate or the reader at the vehicle door, wait for the green checkmark, then ride. ...
Riders in reduced fare programs (such as Senior, Student, and TAP) will have the option to link their benefits to their contactless card, phone, or watch. Riders who do not want to link their benefits to a contactless card, phone, or watch will be able to continue using their current payment method.
The new payment system will be available at subway fare gates and aboard buses and Green and Mattapan Line trolleys. People who like CharlieCards will still be able to use them, but they'll have to tap the old-fashioned card readers, not the newfangled ones.
The T does have a caveat for bus and trolley riders:
While onboard buses, Green Line trolleys, and Mattapan Line trolleys, riders should be mindful of the location of the tappable fare readers near the vehicles’ doors. To avoid the possibility of accidental taps and charges of their contactless credit or debit cards, riders are encouraged to hold their purses, bags, and backpacks away from the contactless readers.
The T's ultimate goal is to create a fare system that includes even commuter-rail lines.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
It seems $300 million was wrong
By Waquiot
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 4:44pm
As it's in fact $400 million. I'll admit I was trying to get the figure by memory. Still, better to guess low than to claim it was more than it is.
But hey, good luck convincing people who don't use the T to raise their own taxes so we T riders can ride for free. It's not going to work out how you think it will. Just ask Rich Davey's most recent former employer. That $15 a day in congestion fees got scuttled quickly, even with I believe a billion in infrastructure installed. But thankfully that is only going to result in cancelled projects and "deferred maintenance", for now at least.
Will keep using my current card
By Charles in Charge
Tue, 07/09/2024 - 7:59pm
I'll keep using my current card until we are sure that the system is actually working.
Wish I could do the same
By Irma la Douce
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 3:10am
Discovered last weekend that my “current†Charlie Card expired on June 30. Prepaid value is unusable. Friendly attendant at Prudential Station let me in this once and explained that when I go to the Charlie Card Store to get a new card they should be able to transfer the value. So just need to find the time to go to the store location between the DTX Platforms….or is it the “temporary†relocation at the Transportation Building? Also have the option to mail the physical card and request a new card be mailed back, perhaps with the prepaid value transferred. In the meantime I’m buying tickets from kiosks.
I did the “mail it in†thing
By ST
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 6:14am
Mailed in a few expired cards and got a new card back in the mail a couple weeks later with the value consolidated on it. And then when I tried to use it, got an error message that the card was inactive.
By contrast, on a recent trip to Washington DC, I brought a couple of Metro cards leftover from a trip in 2014 that still had some value on them, and they still worked just fine.
I'm confused.
By CopleyScott17
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 7:07am
I was able to use my Charlie Card (with prepaid value loaded a few weeks ago) just yesterday, at Kenmore and Assembly. Was/is that supposed to go away?
Tiny print
By Irma la Douce
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 9:40am
Tiny print on the bottom right corner of the front of the card has an expiration date. Your card may have a different date?
Thanks!
By CopleyScott17
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 4:11pm
Mine is good through 09/28, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to use up the remaining stored value before diving into the Brave New World of the MBTA.
Thanks!
By CopleyScott17
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 4:14pm
Mine is good through 09/28, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to use up the remaining stored value before diving into the Brave New World of the MBTA :-)
Thanks @Irma la Douce!
By Don't Panic
Fri, 07/12/2024 - 1:01am
My monthly card expires on 9/30 and my card I keep cash value on for my infrequent rides on the subway expires 9/29. I had no idea the hard plastic cards expired.
Hopefully that's September 2030...
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/12/2024 - 9:46am
...not September 30, 2024 :-)
I don't know if it's open yet...
By Neal
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 8:48am
But if the signage that recently went up over one of the storefronts is any indication, there is or will be a Charlie Card Store in the Old South Building on Washington St, opposite the Walgreens, next to the entrance to State St Station.
State Transportation Building
By anon
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 8:56am
Still the "temp" CharlieCard store at the State Transportation Building.
FYI : They are opening a new …
By Lee
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 2:57pm
…MBTA store on Washington near School Street. I think the DTX store is relocating there.
Yes
By cybah
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 7:27pm
I saw the sign up at the new location and asked a friend at the T.
They want to close the one inside DTX permanently and use this new space instead.
Reason: Employees got tired of breathing in brake dust.
I can't say I blame them.
Example #3208
By Username Unknown
Tue, 07/09/2024 - 9:47pm
Of the T being the T
woodəv ben cheepər too just make ħə fair free.
By schneidz
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 12:43am
Lemme guess, it's a
By Bob Leponge
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 10:20am
Lemme guess, it's a completely custom-built system, because of course we're different from any of the thousands of other public transit systems in the world, and we couldn't possibly be expected to buy an off-the shelf fare collection system that's in successful use somewhere else?
"years late and now approaching $1 billion to install..."
By schneidz
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 12:52am
https://www.newegg.com/card-device-expert-co-limit...
Magoo sez
By MisterMagooForYoo
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 9:29am
Oooooh! Goody goody gumdrops yip yip yippee! Magoo.
And we will still get long delays on the buses
By jmeltzer
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 11:34am
whenever someone tries to pay cash, or use a CharlieCard with not enough money on it, and struggles to get the fare machine to accept bills until the bus driver decides just to wave them on.
And don't complain to the bus drivers about those machines. They hate them even more than we do.
Not as long
By epeemike81
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 12:01pm
Those delays will still happen, sure, but they won't be as long since all the other passengers can simply board via the other doors rather than wait in line behind that person.
That said, for sure we could eliminate those delays by just going fare free.
Yeah, I guess that will help
By jmeltzer
Thu, 07/11/2024 - 6:47am
Opening up the other doors for fare collection.
But those machines are still a disaster. Did anyone even bother to test them on _real circulating bills_ before releasing them? Or was everyone expected to always have brand new unfolded ones (and even those don' t always work)?
Fare free
By Mark-
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 2:31pm
I like free stuff as much as anybody. But I don’t want a system with more crime, more vandalism, and more people living in trains and stations. Right now there’s a way to keep a lot of non-travelers out of the system: enforce fare payment. It could be enforced a lot better for sure, but if you eliminate that you will see these problems get worse.
You think fare machines prevent some people from …
By Lee
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 3:02pm
… getting in the stations without paying the fare?
You obviously don’t ride the T.
Please read
By Mark-
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 5:34pm
“It could be enforced a lot better.â€
There’s practically no enforcement against bad behavior on the T at all. This is reason #1 why many people don’t take public transportation. (I do, and I have regularly for many years.) Enforcing the existing rules and fines would pay for extra personnel to issue fines and remove violaters many times over.
But what about "The Rest of
By Don't Panic
Fri, 07/12/2024 - 1:09am
But what about "The Rest of the Sentence" @Mark-
Apologies to Paul Harvey
Congrats on the gold medal
By H Hartz
Wed, 07/10/2024 - 3:32pm
That's an olympics worthy jump
Why not retina scan or palm pay like Whole Foods?
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/12/2024 - 9:53am
Fast, easy, hygienic, theft-proof, and better for security. I know the Big Brother/Security State argument, but that ship has already sailed.
Pages
Add comment