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

Hoping you can help

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Hey Ron, you seem to generally be on the up-and-up, so you may be able to help me with this:

From what I understand, as someone who does NOT have a monthly pass, I will be able to pick up a plastic CharlieCard tomorrow at Davis and then load it up with money at the Charlie machines. Then I'l be able to tap it to the square boxes on the gates to ride the T. Each time I ride, money will be taken off my card. I can keep filling it up at the machines and, eventualy, online.

My questions are:
1) Is this correct?
2) When I do this, will I be paying the normal $1.70, or will I be paying the $2.00 charged to the "Ticket" holders?
3) When I do this, do I qualify for the free bus transfer (when it happens)?

I read the info on the MBTA website, and I think I have the info right, but I am not sure.

Thanks in advance! Your's -- or anybody's! -- help is greatly appreciated!!

Re: Hoping you can help

[ron_newman]

That sounds right. This month, each subway ride should debit $1.25 from your CharlieCard. If you use it on a bus, it will debit 90 cents.

Next month, a subway ride will debit you $1.70, but you will have a free transfer to the bus.

Re: Hoping you can help

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

Re: Hoping you can help

[yangelina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for clarifying the questions I had - it was very confusing whether a non-monthly-pass-T-user can get a CharlieCard and pay $1.70 per ride. I'm just now looking at a MBTA pamphlet. Under "What is a CharlieCard?" the first mention of "stored value" was:

"Monthly Local Bus Pass and Monthly LinkPass are the two types of passes that will be available on CharlieCards as part of the new Online Corporate Pass Program. Although Stored Value is not offered as part of the program.."

It's probably just me, but I had to re-read it a few times before it was clear that "Stored Value" is actually available to all CharlieCard users *except* the Online Corporate Pass Program. It would've been clearer if they had defined the term Stored Value or use it earlier as part of the CharlieCard system before introducing it as a non-available part of another program within the new card system.