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

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

Hmmm, interesting. So, Porter will be in 1A, then?

My employer (BU) is converting everyone previously receiving a subway pass to a Zone 1A pass, and from the e-mail I got, this is supposed to be going on a CharlieCard, not a CharlieTicket. (Commuters from further away are getting their Zone 1-8 passes on CharlieTickets, though.)

[ron_newman]

Hmm, my understanding is that for now, local-bus passes and LinkPasses are the only passes that can go on a CharlieCard, and that if you use commuter rail zone 1A, you have to get a "Zone 1A" pass on a CharlieTicket. Might be worth checking again with BU.

[matthew miller (from livejournal.com)]

The info from BU is hot off the presses, so I doubt checking again will do any good -- but then, I wouldn't be too surprised if something is a bit off. :) Hopefully the consequence is that it's a LinkPass up until the Zone passes can work on plastic and then is automatically converted.