CharlieCard / Ticket discussion

My wife and I were in Pittsfield last week. The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority uses Charlie cards, but the employee who helped us buy cards from the ticket machine didn't know why they are called Charlie cards, so I sang the chorus of "Charlie on the MTA."

How much do Charlie Cards cost the MBTA? For the card, contract, and administration? How much does Berkshire RTA have to pay the T?

I'd imagine you'd have to file a FOIA request to get this info. The cards are made by Giesecke and Devrient. Since MassDOT was responsible for the rollout of Charlie to the RTAs, I would imagine that they get a heck of a bulk discount.

I am looking for the latest information on how to find the remaining value of a Charlie Ticket. I mean the modern non-magnetic non-reloadable tap RFID paper quick tickets.

It is only recently I found that the well known method of tapping it at a fare vending machine and touching "ticket information" no longer says how many rides are left.

Do they really intend that riders use trial and error at the fare gate if you forget how many rides are left?

That's how I do it! Always fun when the gate starts beeping at you when you run out of rides.

If it's any consolation, the retail vendors are still unable to sell charlie tickets despite having the new stock. The RFID readers balk at the tickets, and trying to sell a commute rail ticket on the system still asks for a magnetic ticket. The MBTA says that they haven't rolled out the capability to sell the tappable tickets to the retail vendors yet (although they've sent them the ticket stock, which have been sitting around for over a year now).