Davis T station has been Charlie converted

[ron_newman]

As of this morning, the Davis T station has been converted to Charlie gates.

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

yetch.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

I'll have to remember to convert the last of my tokens tonight. Thanks for the heads-up.

Load up your Charlie tickets early, before all the vending machines crap out and stay unrepaired like the old token machines did.

[spatch]

Vending machines, hell! I'm waiting for the Charlie gates to crap out and stay unrepaired.

And as far as the token machines go, I have to hand it to the T for making them so unreliable that the little flip-up "OUT OF SERVICE" sign was a standard feature in the design. They knew, all right!

[ron_newman]

Save a few tokens if you have to use any of the following stations, which are not yet converted:

Charles, Fields Corner, Ashmont
Government Center, Arlington (until Nov. 22), Copley, Kenmore
Bowdoin, Maverick

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I absolutely love and prefer the new system, despite all the whiners. For those with passes it means nothing really. The turnover's been a pain but I don't see how it could have been done much better...and for those like me who use the T somewhat regularly but not enough to justify a pass, it's so much easier to buy a $10 card and keep it in my wallet. Lasts me about two weeks and I never lose it, unlike whenever I tried buying 4 or more tokens..

I will be using my bike more often once they raise the rates though.

[magid.livejournal.com]

For those with passes it means nothing really.
Actually, it's the annoyance of having to stop and wait for the machine to let me through. And the loud noise.

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

The main thing I'm happy about is the automatic handicapped exit. Before, with a stroller, I had to wait until someone in the booth deigned to notice me and hit the release. More than once, I'd make eye contact and indicate that I needed out, and the booth person would WAVE DISMISSIVELY. Argh.

(Aside: getting around the T with a little kid is annoying enough, but basically is a voluntary condition. It makes me really sympathetic to those who have no choice. Man is the T awful at accessibility issues.)

[leenah.livejournal.com]

riding the bus is a PAIN.

i have a pass. it takes forever for everyone to go thru the new fare box. the drivers complain that they are now constantly running late by at least 15 mins due to waiting for everyone to go thru the new system of paying.

[skexy.livejournal.com]

I find buying the passes easier; but I always feel slowed down at the new gates, and that's just not good. I also feel as though the 'upgrade' is just there to be a good excuse for them to go forward with the obscene price hike that's been proposed.

In any case, I was getting sick of feeling like herded cattle while the fences weere up during the process at Davis. That was just not good.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

At least at most subway station entrances there are multiple gates--but it is enough of a delay to be annoying. I also thought it was better when your card never left your hand. But, where there's a real slowdown is getting on the buses (even when everyone knows what to do with their card and does it).

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

While they were ripping up the station, you could get away without paying, just by throwing anything-- some pennies, a rock, trash-- into the little "pay here" bucket. Not that I did, but it certainly would have been easy to do.

The thing that amuses me about the rate change is how people are outraged about the "non-card-using surcharge." If the T had called it a "frequent-buyer discount" everyone would be thrilled at how reasonable an idea it was.

[turil.livejournal.com]

It's too bad the T didn't hire you for promotional advice!

But really, the rate hike is just so damn huge, I don't think and clever marketing would have stopped people from being pissed off.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

I'm just interested in seeing how the Charlie gates handle the EXODUS when a quarter-bazillion Somervillains are exiting all at once.

[ron_newman]

That doesn't seem to be a problem at much busier stations such as Park Street, South Station, and others where they are already installed.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, the gates stay open when a bunch of people are leaving, rather than closing between each.

They're dumb, but not that dumb.

[lonely-squirrel.livejournal.com]

The gates don't close in between people who are exiting. It's only on entrance where they don't open properly.

[diego001.livejournal.com]

"Did he ever return?
No, he never returned..."

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

And his fate is still unlearned ...

[disblfsuspender.livejournal.com]

Why on earth did they set them so far back? Now there is this tiny corridor between the gates and the elevator shaft that is just a bottleneck waiting to happen, especially when strollers / wheelchairs / luggage come into play. Ugh. Otherwise I'm fine with it, but jeez, show at least a little care and forethought when you install these things.

[liza.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing when they installed them. Maybe people will learn to walk around the back side of the elevator shaft when crossing over.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

It's a different company handling these things than handles the escalators, right? Please say it's so.

[siderea]

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

I've been to the future. It's lame there.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

When the new gates had been installed at Central for about a month, I'm there with my sweetie, and she's feeding her card to the machine. It spits it out. She feeds it in again. It spits it out.

Eventually one of the hall monitors comes over, looks appraisingly at the machine and pounds it, hard, with his fist. It opens.

Re: I've been to the future. It's lame there.

[skexy.livejournal.com]

'Fuck! Even in the future nothing works."


Dark Helmet

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

It's a waste of paper and the whole system is fucking moronic.

[ron_newman]

The "waste of paper" is a somewhat transient thing, as the T wants people to switch to refillable electronic CharlieCards next month.