Ring of Steel: Fare Gates at BOS, BON, & BBY

[Disney Guy]

Well, they could leave the platform that doubles as the walkway to the bus station (south Station) outside the ring of steel (paid area).

[Arlington]

https://twitter.com/streamside1070/stat ... 19680?s=20
So how strictly is this enforced? Would the T be able to get some sort of exception/waiver to install gates?

While the sign is posted at Track 11, I doubt it means that you have to be able to freely walk the Track 10/11 platform.

It probably just means they can't keep you from walking the perimeter of the station, which, were it not for the Ch 91 sign, you'd not be able to tell as you stood at Track 11.

I read it as allowing them to shunt pedestrians fully to the east, around Track 13 and "out the south end" of the SS complex.

http://i.imgur.com/NZOwaich.png

[danib62]

The cost of installing the gates is not clear, as Keolis has not finalized a contract for them. An agreement with the MBTA from a couple of years back estimated the cost at up to $10 million.

I wonder how many assistant conductors you could hire for $10 million?

[MBTA3247]

Are the faregates they're planning to install actual gates with a physical barrier that swings out of the way to let you pass, or just pillars to tap your card against?

[CRail]

Access control just like when entering the subway.

[Arlington]

Access control just like when entering the subway.

...except not actual "use" of a ticket, rather just "yes this is valid fare media" (kinda like the humans do now)
Right?
I'm assuming that the gate is mostly saying "this would be valid, but a human will have to determine (1) how far you're going (2) whether the right number/age are trying to travel

[CRail]

That's correct. The gates will perform the same function as the people that stand at platform entrances now.

[danib62]

Except if the gate validates a one way ticket I assume it won’t let you through with it again, right?

[caduceus]

Seems like they've already updated mTicket for this last week, as the activated ticket now displays the QR code for scanning by default. The conductor asked if I had just updated the app (did it earlier in the day) as I think it was the first one he saw.

[Arlington]

Except if the gate validates a one way ticket I assume it won’t let you through with it again, right?

Doesn't sound right.

Gate might require that the tickets be active, but I would expect that once active (and for the hours it remained active) you could open the gates an unlimited number of times. And that's OK.

For one, this would let you leave the fare-paid area to use the bathroom and return.

For another it is probably a big compliance win just to make everyone present a live ticket (pass-back sharing for lobby access is a small loss, and you'll still need one ticket per person on board)

[CRail]

There's no real reason for pass back protection. It just means the station lobby areas and platforms are for ticketed passengers only, similar to the Amtrak waiting area at NY Penn.

[danib62]

But if I buy a zone 1A ticket and it never gets collected then really this system hasn’t gained much overall because I can just keep reusing it. This really is the worst of both worlds.

[Rbts Stn]

Well, they could leave the platform that doubles as the walkway to the bus station (south Station) outside the ring of steel (paid area).

Does that mean to not use Track 1 at all for Commuter Rail?

[Rbts Stn]

But if I buy a zone 1A ticket and it never gets collected then really this system hasn’t gained much overall because I can just keep reusing it. This really is the worst of both worlds.

I have a one way Zone 2 ticket I buy every couple of months which I use when they are doing the manual checks before boarding. It goes back into my wallet and I use the app to pay for my actual ride, on the 80% or so times they actually collect my ticket.

[Arlington]

^ I think this practice is the one they are trying to address.

Danib62, Ishould have been more specific: once first used a paper or m ticket should permit unlimited gate uses within the next 3 hours (or whatever the real mticket/ticket duration is).

Seems to me they will end Rbts Stns practice at least as far as: if a paper ticket must be active to get through the turnstile, and good thereafter (for rentries or connected trips within 3 hours), such paper tickets would get burned at the rate of one per day, which is a clear improvement.

$2.40 as a chance for not paying once per week (for 13wks) is an incentive to cheat*. But if it only gets you 1 x 20% chance of not paying your zone 8 fare it is pretty close to never being worth it, and you might as well activate that zone 8 QR code to get through the gate.

*Today 13 x 20% x (fare being avoided) is easily greater than the correct zone burner ticket. And would be break even if your successful avoidance rate was only 7% (93% collected)

Once they are guaranteed to get at least a zone 1A as you go through the gate on the outward leg, the value of gaming Fare avoidance this way goes down