New fare system slows riders on T

As the T's new fare collection system took over the agency's second-busiest hub yesterday, there was a lot of hand-holding at the entrance to South Station's Red and Silver lines.

''Charlie down, arrow up!" yelled MBTA officials stationed near the fare gates, as riders tried the new system, which uses prepaid paper tickets instead of tokens.

The saying was meant to instruct riders that the ticket's likeness of Charlie -- ''the man who never returned" and namesake of the new fare system -- should face down when placing tickets into fare gate slots. An arrow on the back of the card should face up. Hence, ''Charlie down, arrow up."

Still, many riders were slow to catch on.

Many inserted the ticket with Charlie's picture facing up, and others carefully walked sideways through the fare gates, even though they are no narrower than the old turnstiles.

Some passengers expressed anger over lines at the five ticket vending machines available at the station, where about 24,000 pass through each workday. Seven more vending machines will be installed by this morning, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials said. Others were miffed that the machines spit out pocketfuls of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins as change.

The old entrance to the Red Line and Silver Line at South Station was blocked off to all but commuters holding monthly passes. The 50 percent of riders without passes had to walk around to the opposite side.

In addition, officials said several commuter rail workers and law enforcement officials -- people who once flashed their IDs at a T employee for a free ride -- uttered frustrated grunts yesterday when told they had to buy tickets.

Other than a few technical glitches that temporarily shut down some fare gates, the new equipment was trouble-free.

Ramon Blackwell, 25, of Dorchester, said it reminded him of a grocery store's checkout line.

''To me, it's really more time-consuming," he said. ''I don't know how this saves time."

Forrest Staffanson, 77, was one of a few passengers ecstatic about the new system. Then again, he's visiting from Ogden, Utah.

''I think it's fine," he said, adding that he did run into one potential glitch. After buying a CharlieTicket at Aquarium station on the Blue Line, he took a train on the Green Line, which does not have automated fare collection. He didn't have to buy a token, however.

''I told the gentleman at the gate, and they let me right through," he said.

The debut at South Station, the 13th to get the new equipment, marked another milestone for the yearlong rollout of the automated fare system, which is installed at most Blue Line stations and is slowly spreading along the Red Line between South Station and Braintree. Quincy Adams gets the system next week.

''This is another big step for us," said Daniel A. Grabauskas, MBTA general manager. ''And, overall, it did go quite well."

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.