While playing with the new website I was looking at where Charlie Card holders can add value to their cards if they are not at a subway station. I can already see that many bus riders are going to be either inconvenienced or be paying more for a bus (assuming they don't have a monthly pass)
For example look at Cambridge locations. (BTW will someone tell the T that Government Center Station, Suffolk Bookstore, Sullivan Square MBTA Station and Charles/Massachusetts General Hospital Station are NOT in Cambridge!!!) Notice no Store 24 or 7-11's on the list. I asked a clerk at the Harvard Sq 7-11 and she said "we not doing that, no way".
Prediction of what will happen on January 2nd, the first workday of the Charlie Card era. Riders are going to show their plastic card to the bus driver and then try to pay at the farebox only to find they have to pay a higher fare AND won't get their transfer. It won't be pretty folks I can guarantee it.
4 comments:
If you add value to your CharlieCard on the bus, i believe you will pay the CharlieCard fare (and therefore be able to transfer).
Ron Newman said...
If you add value to your CharlieCard on the bus, i believe you will pay the CharlieCard fare (and therefore be able to transfer).
Sigh in a perfect world it would be nice if you could refill your Charlie Card on a bus, but you can't.
The new fareboxes are programmed to dispence a CharlieTicket when cash is inserted in the box. With a CharlieTicket you not only pay the higher fare but do not get the transfer.
This page says you can add stored value to a CharlieCard at a farebox:
http://www.mbta.com/fares_and_passes/charlie/?id=5596
Geez, you expect the T to distinguish between sites that are actually IN Cambridge and those that are just located on Cambridge Streets (in Boston, Charlestown, and even Cambridge)?
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