Fare trade
MBTA tests its new card-based system to mixed reviews
The MBTA took its first steps toward 21st-century fare collection yesterday, but not without some stumbles.
The T allowed a select group of roughly 300 Silver Line bus riders to try out the new computerized CharlieCards, which will eventually replace the venerable token. The swipe-and-go technology should ultimately make it faster to board trains and buses and result in more accurate fare collection.
But some passengers who don't yet have the new card complained that the new fare boxes repeatedly spit back dollar bills or required that coins be fed one by one. That greatly increased commuting time.
"One of the beauties of the Silver Line is . . . you get on, you drop five or six coins, you continue on your way," said Tony Piccolo, a banker in downtown Boston.
"Now I have to stand there, and I have to put in one coin at a time, and I have to do that for four quarters," he said. "And a couple of them got rejected and the driver had to fish them out and hand them back to us."
Tim Sharpe, a state employee who works in Downtown Crossing, said: "Usually you stop and people get on bang, bang, and you're off in 30 seconds, but we were stopped each time three or four minutes, just processing people."
In the past, riders simply threw cash in the fare collection boxes before sitting down. Riders with monthly passes also used to be able to slide them through readers atop the fare box. Yesterday they had to stop and insert them into the fare box for validation.
Officials of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority anticipated problems, which is why they limited the number of CharlieCards they distributed. They also tried to help riders by placing posters at each stop to explain the new fare boxes and by deploying customer service agents along the line to answer questions.
"The [pilot] program is designed to test the technology and solicit comments and reactions from customers," said T spokesman Joe Pesaturo."It's clear from this morning that we've started to accomplish that."
Yesterday on the Silver Line, the first CharlieCard holders waved their cards over the new fare boxes, installed over the weekend on all 17 of the bus line's 60-foot buses. The other roughly 14,000 daily riders continued to pay with cash or tokens, but were given their change in CharlieTickets.
While the new machines slowed boardings, in some cases they allowed riders to get back change that previously went to the T. For example, commuters depositing four quarters or a dollar bill for the 90-cent fare were issued a CharlieTicket with a 10-cent balance. People who paid with tokens, which have a cash value of $1.25, were issued CharlieTickets with a 35-cent balance.
The Silver Line test will continue through May. In late April or early May, when automated fare collection starts at the Blue Line's Aquarium and Airport stations, the T will also add fare vending machines that dispense CharlieTickets.
After any tweaks, the T then plans to install the system simultaneously along the Green, Red, and Orange Lines. If all goes as planned, the system will be in use on all buses and trolleys starting next January, and the T will begin to hand out the more permanent CharlieCards soon afterward.
T riders will continue to pay 90 cents for a bus ride and $1.25 for subway service.
Regular users will be able to use the CharlieCard, which looks like a credit card. They can add money to the cards with cash, credit, or debit cards, and their bus or subway fare will be deducted each ride. T officials have yet to decide if they will give away the cards or charge riders for their initial purchase.
Tourists or more sporadic riders will be able to use the CharlieTicket, a paper card with a magnetic strip. Unlike the current monthly passes, the cards will not expire at the end of a month. Bus transfers will also be given via the card or ticket, freeing drivers who now have to issue and monitor paper transfers.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. 