Complaints, kudos on tap over Charlie
 HARVARD HALT — The Harvard busway closed Friday night and will reopen Tuesday after some repairs, officials said. Buses loaded aboveground yesterday. (Wendy Maeda/ Globe Staff) |
More CharlieCard and CharlieTicket confusion this week.
But first, a little love and a lotta hate.
"I don't think your column is the mouthpiece for a bunch of swindlers and thieves, but I do think you are a loser who is incapable of recognizing an organization of rude and ignorant, incompetent employees," wrote Gregg, who not only calls us a loser but spells our name wrong. "If we all did our jobs like the T workers, then economically, the state of Massachusetts would be coming in a distant last behind New Mexico and Tennessee."
He fails to mention Mississippi, which is good, right?
"I think you're the one who needs to step back and take a deep breath this time around, not the readers," wrote Jim, who writes software and calls us dude. "And go read some back issues of Risks Digest if you need some background in the kinds of things that can go wrong in software-run systems."
Brian wrote that after reading last week's column of complaints about the new system, "I was reminded of something my dad told me growing up: 'One must be smarter than the equipment he is operating.'
"I'm sure that 95 percent of the issues with the CharlieCard are simply people trying to make the process more complicated and difficult than it has to be simply to make some kind of point about how awful the whole system is. I strongly disagree . . . . I love Boston's salty cynicism more than anyone; that's one reason why I enjoy living here. But there is a point where it becomes ridiculous, and I think we just passed it. In two months, we won't know how we lived without CharlieCards. Thank you for calling people out and telling it how it really is."
Finally, the best news of all.
"Many people are complaining in your column about the CharlieCard system," wrote Paul. "I wish to report that I'm happy with my new CharlieCard. I just tap it against the reader and get on. I don't even have to take it out of my wallet, I just hold my wallet up against the reader and it still reads it. And I love that I won't have to get a new one every month. I haven't had any problems."
Paul, by the way, does not work for the T.
A man tapping his CharlieCard against the reader, but standing in front of the wrong gate. When the gates did not open, he thought the system was broken. If he's had stored value on that card, we also think he's out of a lot of coin from all that tapping.
We also checked out reports that folks were throwing away CharlieTickets that still had value on them. We're not saying it's not true, but after donning latex-free rubber gloves, we rummaged in the trash and found 20 CharlieTickets. After running each one through the machine and checking their values, not one cent was found.
Don't forget, if you don't have enough money for a full fare on a CharlieTicket, you can "top it off" by adding the required amount at a fare vending machine.
Finally, the main reason people got beeped at the gates? Improperly holding their CharlieCards against the reader. They did it too quickly, or they held only a portion of the card against the black rectangle. Once the amazingly friendly station attendant helped them out, they were on their way.
So you tap the touch screen and the first options you have are: passes, commuter rail, and something called "stored value."
Stored value? Where do I buy the subway ticket? And what's this here? Commuter rail? Maybe that's it. *beep*
So you hit commuter rail, and then there is the list of zones but you think they're the number of tickets requested, and it says $1.70 and that's the price of the subway, according to the hand-written sign taped to the machine. So you hit it. Then you go to the fare gates, and they don't accept your ticket because it's the subway , not commuter rail.
Sound farfetched? It's happening. A lot.
Our suggestion to the T? Fine, fine, fine. Keep the stored value choice (which T officials want to sear into your brain) but add the words "bus/subway" to that first touch-screen button.
After some resistance, T officials last week said they'd consider making the change. Stay tuned.
The freight line that owns large portions of the tracks, CSX Transportation, will replace more than 14,000 crossties on the line starting -- Ta da ! -- tomorrow.
The first phase includes crosstie replacement between the West Natick and Wellesley Farms stations. Crosstie replacement will continue along the corridor as weather permits. Work will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Riders should expect delays of about 30 minutes for trains P509, P518, P511, P520, P513, P515, P522, and P524.
Exit 26 (Storrow Drive) off I-93 North will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Thursday morning and Friday to Saturday morning.
The Essex Street onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Monday to Wednesday morning.
Exit 23 (Government Center) off I-93 north will be closed from 11:30 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday.
The Atlantic Avenue onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Wednesday morning.
I-93 north will be closed at Exit 16 (Southampton Street/Andrew Square) from 11:30 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
The Haymarket onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday to Saturday morning.
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday to Saturday morning.
The underpass from Storrow Drive east and the ramp from Leverett Circle to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Wednesday morning.
The Broadway onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
The Essex Street onramp to I-93 south will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Saturday morning.
Three lanes of I-93 south approaching and through downtown will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Saturday morning.
One lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike east around Logan Airport will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.
The Pike west in South Boston will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Thursday to Saturday morning. The onramp to the Pike west from D Street will also be closed.
One lane of the Pike west in the Ted Williams Tunnel will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Saturday morning.
One lane of the Pike west around Logan Airport will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to Storrow Drive will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Thursday morning and Friday to Saturday morning. Sumner Tunnel access to Haymarket will remain open.
Route 1A north near Logan Airport will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Complain to us at starts@globe.com. Don't forget to send us your hometown. Outside the paper, the column can be found at boston.com/starts with daily updates on the Starts & Stops Blog at boston.com/starts/blog. Our mailing address is Starts & Stops, P.O. Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819. 
