Don't toss Charlie Tickets away
'Congratulations to the MBTA," wrote a facetious Tacey of East Boston. ''Charlie Cards now outnumber scratch tickets as litter around T stations. The MBTA should learn what transit systems worldwide already know: prevent litter by having the turnstile machine retain the depleted ticket."
MBTA officials, including Lisa Bono, chief of Blue Line operations, have noticed the increased litter and the problem is not necessarily with the machines, but with the riders, who apparently don't know or care that the cards can be reloaded for more fares.
''We have stepped up our cleaning efforts, put more trash receptacles in the fare areas, and are trying to educate customers about the tickets," said Bono.
''Charlie Tickets are not one-time-use items," Bono wrote. ''Customers can place value on them for more than one ride when they are initially purchased. Value can also be loaded on them at any time thereafter. We felt it was important to offer this convenience to our customers; adding value to the same ticket also conserves resources."
T officials said that as the automated fare collection system rolls out further, customers are expected to add higher fare values on tickets when they first purchase them. In about a year, when the sturdier Charlie Cards are introduced, Bono said, ''we anticipate that the majority of our customers will switch to these."
We'd like to add this question to the mix. During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., our cellphone rang as it sat in our shirt pocket next to our Metro fare card. The act wiped out $1.85 on the card. We asked the station attendant for help, but there was little she could do except tell us to send it into customer service. Anyone have this problem with the Charlie Ticket? Let us know at starts @globe.com.
Mea culpa
The MBTA received an unsigned letter recently with a postmark from Royal Oak, Mich. Handwritten, and using the MBTA's old title, it read as follows:
''To the MTA -- My friend & I were recently in your city. We purchased the one-day MTA visitor pass. However, we also used the pass for two fares on subsequent days. Here is the $5 for those fares. It was wrong to use the pass; I know better and I am sorry. Thank you -- I enjoy your city and your public transit system."
Royal Oak included not only the $5 but the misused one-day pass as well.
We think we speak for the T and all of Boston when we say, Royal Oak, come back any time you'd like. You're more than welcome.
Turkey traffic
It's Thanksgiving week, the time of year when we all love to see our loved ones but hate making the trip. We hope you have a safe and joyous holiday. And to try and make it a little easier, here are some things to know.
Logan International Airport is not expecting to have a shortage of parking, despite the fact that airlines expect load factors at 100 percent starting Monday and especially a week from today.
We were surprised by the statement from Massport. Just the week before, it issued a statement saying that due to heavy business travel, coupled with normal passenger traffic during the week before Thanksgiving, parking would be limited.
Don't forget Logan Express from Peabody, Woburn, Framingham, and Braintree. Active military personnel traveling in uniform can use the service for free through June 30, 2006. For more information, call 1-800-23-LOGAN.
If you should take the T to Logan, remember the Silver Line, which offers a quick trip to each and every terminal from South Station and back. Remember, too, that it's the Silver Line's first Thanksgiving, so be generous and kind. T officials are asking riders to favor the Silver Line to avoid overcrowding at Airport Station on the Blue Line. During peak periods, the buses will run every eight minutes.
If you should need to use the Airport stop on the Blue Line, buy yourself a Charlie Ticket beforehand so you're not tied up at the kiosks.
For the car-bound, remember that the busiest day of travel is quickly becoming the Tuesday before the holiday, not Wednesday. So on Tuesday night when you're stuck on the Mass. Pike headed nowhere, don't say we didn't warn you.
Best Thanksgiving gift of all? Note that the ''Can't get there. . ." section does not include some Big Dig road closures on Wednesday and Thursday nights. There may be some lane closures, but Big Dig officials said that if traffic begins to congest, they will be halted.
Zipperheads
Highway birthdays aren't normally observed. But last Tuesday, several dozen people gathered at the ''blue building" at the southern end of the Southeast Expressway to say ''Happy Birthday" to the Zipper Lane. It's a decade old.
''It's my all-time favorite project," said Luisa Paiewonsky, a Massachusetts Highway Department employee who -- in the shadow of news about the Big Dig in the early 1990s -- spent three years planning and overseeing construction. Paiewonsky went on to even bigger things; she's now commissioner of the department.
The Zipper Lane is the Boston area's high-occupancy vehicle lane, made possible by a moveable chain of concrete barriers, two bulky Barrier Systems Inc. moving trucks, and a dedicated crew of about a dozen public and private employees, some of whom have been there since it debuted.
Mechanic Fred Lavorati pulled out a set of snapshots showing the Zipper trucks being lifted off flat-bed trucks with a crane after assembly in California.
Transportation Secretary John Cogliano and Secretary for Commonwealth Development Doug Foy gathered at noon in the garage with the men and women who do the real work, sharing a feast of meatballs and cold cuts, and some stories as well.
About 500 cars used the lane in the early days. At first, three occupants per vehicle was the requirement. That ended in 1999; only two passengers are now required.
Building the Zipper Lane wasn't easy. The highway had to be widened, and the total cost was around $35 million. It costs about $1 million a year to operate.
Today, 8,000 to 9,000 vehicles use the lane a day. The barrier-moving trucks you see in the morning and afternoon each have logged more than 7,000 hours moving those barriers. They were expected to die after a decade, but MassHighway spokesman Jon Carlisle said they probably have another five to seven years left in them, despite the heavy lifting.
Believe it or not, a sticker was once required for Zipper Lane use for any driver who had only two occupants in the car -- and it was good only on odd or even days. Motorcyclists were always allowed.
And there are memorable cases of drivers fashioning elaborately dressed and made-up dummies, and belting them in to get around the minimum-passenger requirement. The head of the first dummy, whose chauffeur was chased down by police and ticketed, still sits on a file cabinet in the blue building.
THOMAS C. PALMER JR.
Can't get there...
I-93 south around the Massachusetts Avenue Connector will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday morning.
The ramp at Exit 23 from I-93 south to Purchase Street will close 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning and 11 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
I-93 south Exit 20B to the Pike west will close 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday morning and 10 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Storrow Drive on-ramp to I-93 south will close 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday morning.
The Haymarket on-ramp to I-93 south and the Callahan Tunnel will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
The exit ramp from I-93 south to Government Center and the Callahan Tunnel (Exit 24A and 24B) will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday morning and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
The Essex Street on-ramp to I-93 south will close 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday morning and 10:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
I-93 north at Exit 20 (Logan/Pike) will close 11:30 p.m. tomorrow to 5 a.m. Tuesday and 12:01 to 7 a.m. Saturday. The ramps at Exit 20 to the Pike, and the on-ramps to I-93 north at Massachusetts Avenue and Broadway will also close.
The ramp to the Pike at I-93 north's Exit 20 (Logan/Pike) will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday. The left-hand ramp from Exit 20 to Frontage Road northbound and South Station will remain open.
The underpass from Storrow Drive eastbound, and the ramp from Leverett Circle to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge will close 11 tonight to 5 a.m. tomorrow.
The underpass from Storrow Drive east to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge will close 12:01 to 5 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 1 to 6 a.m. Saturday.
The Haymarket on-ramp to I-93 north will close 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. tomorrow and 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning.
The Sumner Tunnel on-ramp to I-93 north will close 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. tomorrow and 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
The Essex Street on-ramp to I-93 north will close 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning, and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Pike east between Exit 22 (Pru/Copley) and South Boston will close 11 p.m. tomorrow to 5 a.m. Tuesday and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through next Sunday morning. Direct access to the Ted Williams Tunnel from Frontage Road and South Boston will be open.
The Frontage Road Northbound on-ramp to the Pike west at the Broadway Bridge will close 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning, and 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through next Sunday morning.
The Frontage Road Northbound on-ramp to I-93 north at the Broadway Bridge will close 10 tonight to 5 a.m. tomorrow.
The Sumner Tunnel on-ramp to Government Center and Haymarket will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tonight through Wednesday and 11:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
The Congress Street on-ramp to I-93 south and the Pike west will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning and 10 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
The on-ramp from Congress Street to I-93 in South Boston and Exit 24 (I-93) off the Pike west will close 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Thursday morning and 1 to 6 a.m. Saturday.
Route 1A south near Logan will close 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today and tomorrow.
The ramps from the Tobin Bridge and from Rutherford Avenue/City Square to I-93 south and Storrow Drive will close 11 tonight to 5 a.m. tomorrow.
The Broadway Bridge will be closed to westbound traffic 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow through Wednesday and 9 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
Complain to us at starts@globe.com. Don't forget to send your hometown. Outside the paper, the column can be found at www.boston.com/news/local/startsandstops/. Our mailing address is Starts & Stops, P.O. Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819. 
