CharlieCard / Ticket discussion

diburning wrote:The MBTA has announced that Charlie Cards will be accepted between North Station and Chelsea through Summer 2019. No fare/pass needed, just a charlie card, no fare will be collected if a charlie card is presented.

So in other words, the commuter rail is free from Chelsea for the next year, given conductors do not have hand-held Charlie readers.

It also makes the platform ticket checkers at North Station even more inane, as anyone boarding a Newburyport/Rockport train could just flash an empty CharlieCard and claim they're going to Chelsea.

Yes, but then they must get off in Chelsea.

How is a ticket checker at North Station going to enforce that?

It wouldn't be too much of an issue I guess. Chelsea is in Zone 1A. I suppose the conductor would simply charge the on-board fare (formerly called a surcharge)

The ticket checkers are quite useless though. Just because someone has a ticket doesn't mean that the conductor will get around to punching it. I've only had my ticket punched/collected on about half of my rides to Boston Landing, and almost never on my rides to Back Bay or Yawkey.

About all it accomplishes for now is forcing mobile ticket activation, which is fare collected.

I understand they are just buying their time until CharliCard 2.0 and the plan is to tap on and tap off. Gates at the Boston stations and kiosks at all other stations.

If you don't tap when getting off you will be charged for the maximum number of zones.

But this isn't happening until sometime in 2020 at the earliest.

RenegadeMonster wrote:About all it accomplishes for now is forcing mobile ticket activation, which is fare collected.

Forcing ticket activation before actually boarding works fine with a reliable system.

The T commuter rail is not that system, and you get alleged incidents such as described at https://twitter.com/SGriepsma/status/10 ... 3409089536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When the station ticket checker expected passengers to have an activated ticket to continue on to the platform, is it not standard procedure that the selfsame ticket should be presented upon demand to any train conductor and be accepted as valid subject to zones to be travelled?

The same would be case if someone should be approached by a second conductor during his ride.

You would think, and that very well could be the case here.

But I'm thinking it's probably more like the guy activated a ticket with a different zone than needed because he travels to different locations and hadn't bought the right ticket yet when he encountered the ticket checkers.

BOS to BBY & visa-versa was free, is this still the case?

Officially, only BBY to BOS is free. BOS to BBY is not free.

MBTA to allow onboard credit, debit payments for commuter-rail riders

The technology consists of an app on conductors' existing company-issued smartphones, which are now paired with handheld Bluetooth printers. Using the mobile point-of-sale app, the conductor selects the station-to-station information to calculate the zone and fare, and processes the transaction.

diburning wrote:MBTA to allow onboard credit, debit payments for commuter-rail riders

Ah, but with the inanity of "Fare is Fair", official Keolis policy (though not mentioned in the MBTA Tariff and Statement of Fare and therefore of questionable legality) is that on-board purchasing may be forbidden on any arbitrary train from any arbitrary station at any arbitrary time, with no advance notice.

(The reality being evening rush hour at North Station and Back Bay and seemingly less often, at South Station.)

diburning wrote:MBTA to allow onboard credit, debit payments for commuter-rail riders

About time. That kind of tech has been around for over a decade.

It's been in testing for a few months now. 1 Crew has had it on the north side at least.


It is about time. But I wonder how it all fits into CharlieCard 2.0?


By 2020 they will have pay stations set up at all non Boston Stations and Gates at Boston stations. You will have to tap in and tap off. Failure to do so will result in a charge of the Maximum number of zones.

So say me, if I get off at Salem and forget to go to the kiosk and tap off I will automatically be charged the maximum. Or if I don't tap in and then tap out at the gate at North station I would be charged the maximum number of zones.


Will paying by CC on board give you something you can tap / scan at the gates? If not what's going to happen in 2020? Also, the plan is to remove cash being collected on trains completely by the end of 2020? Would they still take Credit after this?

Once 'tap on, tap off' is implemented, the standard from other parts of the world would be to offer the following

• Tap on and off with your CharlieCard 2.0, which can be refilled with cash.

• Tap on and off with your contactless credit or debit card

• or cash-only customers, the above is an inconvenience - what if you don't yet have a CharlieCard? One standard would be to offer CharlieTicket machines at every station, with an 'alternate verification lane' (hand your ticket to an agent) at the Ring of Steel.