CharlieCard distribution

[xxv.livejournal.com]

Has anyone gotten a CharlieCard yet? I hear they were supposed to be handing them out to commuters today, but I didn't see anyone at Davis.

MBTA jargon note: CharlieCards are the RFID cards that you wave over the dark grey rectangles on the new turnstiles. CharlieTickets are the paper cards that jam the turnstiles. CharliePasses are the thin plastic cards (cleverly mislabeled "CharlieTicket") that they're deprecating.

Update: I think I made up the name "CharliePass", although I swear I saw it somewhere in the MBTA literature.
Update #2: Davis gets them starting tomorrow. Other stations get them at other times.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Or, to put it a different way:

Single bus ride: $0.90 -> $1.25, a 39% increase
Bus pass: $31 -> $40, a 29% increase
Single subway ride: $1.25 -> $1.70, a 36% increase
Subway pass: $44 -> $59 (LinkPass), a 34% increase

The big winners are people who live in places like Union Square, who have to take both a bus and a subway:

Single ride: $2.15 -> $1.70, a 21% decrease
Combo pass: $71 -> $59, a 31% decrease

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Subway pass: $44 -> $59 (LinkPass), a 34% increase

Sure, it's an overall increase.

Fares are going to go up whether anyone buys a pass or not.

CharlieCard holders get a frequent buyer discount for individual fares (in effect) because they pay $1.70

The way I see it, considering that the fare increase happens no matter what, the single fare value of the card decreasing by one half of a fare is offset by the ability to use the bus if needed without paying any additional fare.

[ron_newman]

That's sort of how I see it, too. With the CharlieCard and LinkPass, I'm more likely to take casual, unplanned bus trips to places like Union Square, just because I will no longer have the hassle of locating the right number of quarters for such a trip.