Charlie is coming to Davis Square

[ron_newman]

This morning, all of the turnstiles have been removed from the Davis Square T station. Everyone has to walk in and out of one rather narrow gate, dropping a token or change into the box or showing your pass to the attendant.

Comments

[iamcoreyd.livejournal.com]

Now I can't just throw a bunch of nickles in the till :(

[ron_newman]

Oh, probably. Even pennies -- not like anyone is going to count your change ...

[myselftheliar.livejournal.com]

Yay! I think charlie passes are great and (once EVERYWHERE actually has them) a much easier method of travel. However I know how crap it is to show up at a station with a charlie ticket when it wants tokens

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Funny, I'd rather use a token any day. The cards are too easily destroyed in my lifestyle and the paper waste for single 1-2 ride passes is absurd.
However the benefits for the T include better tracking of usage (they still can't see where you get off but if you buy a multi ride pass the T can see when you get on again giving them better usage models) and more pricing options later on.

[shinxy.livejournal.com]

It creates less paper waste if people keep adding fares to a single ticket they keep in their wallets, for example, but because not every station uses the system and it's new, people end up throwing them out.

I've been keeping a ticket for when they do finally bring Charlieticket up and running in Davis.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

My secret theory is that the main benefit for the T is that tokens now have a fixed value, so they don't get these extant liabilities that increase whenever they raise the fare.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

MBTA just added recycling bins for the used tickets at Sullivcan Station. The mess of trash was getting ridiculous.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

The thing that bugs me is that I can into a turnstile station much faster than a Charlie station. There are more entrances, and I can walk through them more quickly. With the Charlie tickets I need to stop and wait for the doors to open.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Try taking the bus with the line of people trying to make the machines work properly! The cards aren't too bad, but the coin slot only takes one coin at a time. So you have to sit there for a minute while you slowly drop all your 90¢ in the slot. Multiply that by 20 people, and 20 stops on the bus line, and you've got a big delay!

[ron_newman]

If you add money to a ticket, do you get the same ticket back, or does it eat the old ticket and spit out a new one?

(I'm a monthly-pass user so I haven't had a chance to play with stored-value tickets yet.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

You get a newly-printed ticket.

(I was curious and checked, myself, the last time I did this.)

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the machine gives you a new ticket. What I find beneficial is that the machine also stores the old ticket, which I hope will be recycled, but I don't know for sure. It might be a good thing to ask someone at the MBTA.

By which, I mean someone in the administration, not the people in the stations. They tend not to be great sources of information.

[agharta75.livejournal.com]

Bad idea. The tickets wear out with use, and you can lose your money.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

how so? I keep mine in a pocket in my wallet, and I've never had that issue.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

It's the Tet Offensive of 2006! Yay no more having to use two different forms of fares on every commute!

[spatch]

I like how they're painting the concrete in the Davis station. I mean, what with all its problems -- broken escalators, leaking ceilings, fire alarms that may or may not be in use -- it's nice to see that the T thinks the highest priority right now, besides installing the Charlie Card machines, is to put a coat of industrial gray paint over concrete that's been around for nearly 25 years now without needing a coat of paint before.

Bravo!

[ron_newman]

I'd settle for having enough lighting on the benches so I don't have to carefully pick a seat where I can see well enough to do the daily crossword.

[spatch]

Maybe more light will bounce off the gray paint for you! It's a brilliant move on the T's part that way: indirect lighting at its most ludicrous.

[damsel-ophelia.livejournal.com]

Yup! And let's not forget to mention the fun that many passengers in the station have when they get nauseous from the paint fumes!

[artemii.livejournal.com]

late this morning the lingering paint fume smell was mingling with the fresh smell of burnt metal. it was exciting.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

My theory on the escalators (actually it was my friend's theory, but I'm stealing it from him) is that they're one part short in one of the escalators, so they just rotate which one is broken every day. Grrr.

[komos.livejournal.com]

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that the T didn't include unsatisfactory performance penalties into their most recent vertical transport maintenance contract in order to "save money."

So go figure... Alewife has a spanky new exterior surveilance system (complete with a big screen TV so the public can see who's coming) and those groovy Charlie ticket turnstyles, but yesterday the two longest escalators were out of service.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Now that's a subject line to strike fear into the hearts of the brave :( How depressing.