Feh, Charlie

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Did anyone else have trouble with the card-readers in the Davis T station this morning, or have I purchased a faulty LinkPass from Store 18? The readers on every gate said "Not Enough Value" though I paid $59 for this damn thing two days ago. It worked until this morning.

Comments

[mrf-arch.livejournal.com]

Worked fine for me at about 8:00

[gilana]

I had problems with it at 8:30. I have a LinkPass on a CharlieCard, and the first two gates I tried gave me an error and said "see attendant". I waited for a few seconds, tried a third gate, and it worked.

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem last night at the Charles/MGH stop and told the attendant. He checked the card at the ticket kiosk and it showed that I had a monthly pass, so he let me in and said that he would report it. He said that problem had happened a few other times that night. I am hoping it won't be a recurring issue for me.

[spatch]

Charlie Cards suddenly dying appears to be quite a common problem. Apparently it's easy for them to transfer the value from your dead card (using the number on the back) to a new one, but the only place they service your card is in Downtown Crossing. Expect a line.

[spatch]

Aaaand it looks as if my card is dead now, too.

Let's go have a Charlie Card party at Downtown Crossing.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

This totally sucks. I didn't save my receipt from Store 24 when I bought the LinkPass. Is that going to matter, I wonder?

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

nope. looks like they can check the balance on it (somehow) and just give you a new one.

[glowroper.livejournal.com]

They can check the balance because they are able to track your every move with those damn things.

But woe to you if you forget something outside the turnstile, or see a friend or something - you will have to wait twenty minutes. They call it a "grace period."

[aki.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you for saying that. I will now go place my receipt (from a ACCM, Automated Charlie Card Machine) in a Safe Place.

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

My Linkpass Charlie Card didn't work yesterday morning, but I think it was the fault of the card-reader, as there was an orange cone blocking that particular gate this morning, and my card worked today.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

just try it again at another reader. i get that pretty much every morning on the orange line, and try a different one, and it works just fine.

[aki.livejournal.com]

Poor, sad Orange Line. It goes so far, tries so hard, and yet remains so very very ghetto...

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

I tried it yesterday at Porter and it didn't work. Went to Downtown Crossing and they scanned the card and said it was fine. Apparently they've had a bunch of complaints at Porter. I tried it on other stations and it's fine. Today the third gate I tried worked.

[mattlistener.livejournal.com]

This bodes not well.

[damsel-ophelia.livejournal.com]

Had this problem on the outbound entrance at Pearl Street in Central Square, checked it at one of the kiosks in Harvard, and has been working fine since.

MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

I went to Downtown Crossing to get a new card, here is what they told me:

Although this has happened a lot, the problem is not with the card, but with user error. The supervisor said that there are three different "pockets" in the CharlieCard, one that is capable of storing a current monthly pass, one that is capable of storing a future monthly pass, and one that is capable of storing additional value. Supposedly, if you wave your card around the target, instead of placing it FIRMLY on the target, the card ignores the first two pockets and tries to extract money from the third pocket,in which the additional value may be stored. Since had a monthly pass, but I didn't have any extra money stored on my card, the machine read "Not Enough Value." This message will also occur if the card has been used recently, since there is a 20-minute timeout period after you use the card to prevent people from using the same monthly pass within minutes of each other.

The supervisor looked on the computer, and it listed off the various locations where the card had been used. The computer stated that I had used the card last night at Charles/MGH, even though the gates never opened for me. Perhaps I moved the card too quickly and the machine processed the first so-called pocket, then immediately tried to read the third pocket with stored value before giving the gates enough time to open in the interim. Once the machine reads "Not Enough Value," though, I have not been able to get it to read the monthly pass; it just keeps defaulting to "Not Enough Value."

They would not give me a new pass at Downtown Crossing, but with the precision of a surgeon, the supervisor gave me a step-by-step demonstration of proper card handling technique. She also told me to try using the handicap gates, since those seem more forgiving.

Re: MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[ron_newman]

Is there more than one RFID chip on the card? I thought there was exactly one, to the right of the word "Authority". It's not very large.

Re: MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

I can only see the one RFID chip. Perhaps she was only calling them "pockets" in order to help me understand the concept.

Re: MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[ron_newman]

In any event, "wave the card" isn't what people are supposed to do. I have always pressed it against the target (though sometimes through a wallet).

Re: MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

I thought I had always done that, too. I only had the problem last night and again this morning, which is a bit strange. I thought the card had suddenly failed, but perhaps I had been a bit rushed in the past 24 hours.

Re: MBTA claims the CharlieCards are fine

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I'll try what you said before going to Downtown Crossing. I was able to get it to work at the Arlington gates.

What a flawed system, though.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is just about the worst user-interface design decision I have ever heard of.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

My sister had problems this morning not with the gates, but with the machine, which repeatedly claimed there was some kind of problem with the card -- and then on the next attempt loaded the card properly. It was odd.

We did get an MBTA attendant telling us not to wave or "tap" the card but to press it firmly. I haven't had a problem yet myself.

Is it certain that you can add value for pay-as-you-go rides on a card that has a pass stored on it? That would be nice . Unless the gates ocassionally randomly decide to deduct money from your stored value instead of reading your pass, which sounds like a possibility based on the description of how it works above.

I'm wondering how my workplace, which mails me my monthly pass (deducted out of my paycheck) every month, is going to handle this. This month I got a Charlie Card with a pass on it, obviously. Next month will I get some kind of credit ticket I can put into the machines that will put the pass on my card? Or will I get a new plastic Charlie Card every month?

Clearly they've got some issues to work out.

[ron_newman]

I think your employer is supposed to use an online system to load a new pass onto your card each month. You definitely should not get a new card each month.

Yes, the card is supposed to hold both stored value and up to two passes (e.g. this month's and next month's).

[glowroper.livejournal.com]

The employer does it.

Has anyone seen whether or not the employer can pull up usage data? Or is that highly personal information only entrusted to the governmental authorities?

[pyrric.livejournal.com]

We did get an MBTA attendant telling us not to wave or "tap" the card but to press it firmly.

Well gosh. That certainly makes all the "Just tap and go!" signage all over the trains completely useless. Thanks, MBTA!

[aki.livejournal.com]

"Just press firmly, wait an awkward moment, and then go!" wouldn't fit on the posters.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Mine stalled a bit at Davis this morning, but after I tried the same gate again and again I got it to open. Hmm.

[bgum.livejournal.com]

To anyone having trouble with both the CharlieCard and the CharlieTicket, there is a third option called a "CharlieBoard". It is rather cumbersone and doesn't fit into a wallet, but it costs nothing as a free piece of cardboard taken from the trash.

There is a separate slot for the CharlieBoard. When you insert it into the slot between the two gates, the gates open and a loud buzzing sound occurs, thanking you for riding the MBTA.