AFC/Charlie ribbon cutting & first impression

I went over to Airport on the Blue Line for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and to try out the new AFC gear.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... t_station/

The kiosk to buy a ticket is really easy to use, and is even ready to sell monthly passes. I dropped in $1.25 (bill and coin) and was walking away in about 45 sec. - which I thought was good for my first use. I thought about buying my June pass, but there was a WCVB camerman filming me and I thought I'd like to keep my PIN to myself.

I decided to use my current May (old-style) pass on the gate, since I had been told the new gear will honor existing passes. It worked like a charm, and I breezed right through. I like how the ticket/pass gets spit out the top so it's less likely someone will walk off leaving it behind. I would have spent more time checking out the gate gear, but there were at least three TV news cameras pointed at me and I wasn't thinking like a geek.

One of the MBTA instructors (that's what his uniform emblem said) told me there's a catch to buying a monthly pass on a Charlie Ticket: it won't work anywhere on existing (old) pass reading equipment! So, although it would be a valid pass, I'd have to wave it at a bus driver, have a subway collector open the gate, etc. - not good for a speedy commute. There's no color-coding of the Charlie Ticket monthly pass, so it will require more than a quick glance on the CR to tell May from June from July. I'm not sure I want to drop $118 for the month and then have everyone who's not been trained give me grief over the new pass... but maybe I will just to start breaking people in.

sw wrote:There's no color-coding of the Charlie Ticket monthly pass, so it will require more than a quick glance on the CR to tell May from June from July.

I was thinking that the Charlie Card was mainly for bus and subway....................... my understanding was that it was going to be like manual replenishment like New York City's Metro-Card. So confused.

And very Similar to WMATA METRO Washington, DC as well as the BART in San Fransisco.

CSX Conductor wrote:I was thinking that the Charlie Card was mainly for bus and subway....................... my understanding was that it was going to be like manual replenishment like New York City's Metro-Card. So confused.

I used to think so too - but the instructor official today told me that the very last stage of the AFC roll-out will be hand-held readers for the CR conductors. Plus I saw with my own eyes the on-screen selections of monthly passes - I think I saw up to Zone 8. (Next time I'm there I'll look for boat. I didn't think to look for it today.)

Also - the guy told me the Charlie Card (the smart-card that's touchless like the AFC senior / TAP pass now) won't be available until all stations & busses are outfitted. He thought most current pass-holders would wait for the Charlie Card before switching, which seems to indicate the old pass type will be around for a while (2006 at least...?)

The Charlie Ticket is going to be more like the MetroCard where you can add value onto the ticket or use it as a monthly transit pass. The Charlie Card, OTOH, will be different in that you can add money outside the system to the card and where you just scan the card at the turnsile without having to stick it in. I think CTA is phasing in a similar type of card called the Chicago card. I guess the T's system is going to be more like Chicago's than New York's, because I don't recall the MTA saying they were going to introduce a smart card. The MetroCard works well as it is now.

sw wrote:One of the MBTA instructors (that's what his uniform emblem said) told me there's a catch to buying a monthly pass on a Charlie Ticket: it won't work anywhere on existing (old) pass reading equipment! So, although it would be a valid pass, I'd have to wave it at a bus driver, have a subway collector open the gate, etc. - not good for a speedy commute. There's no color-coding of the Charlie Ticket monthly pass, so it will require more than a quick glance on the CR to tell May from June from July. I'm not sure I want to drop $118 for the month and then have everyone who's not been trained give me grief over the new pass... but maybe I will just to start breaking people in.

There may be a catch now with trying to use the Charlie Ticket on the other rail and bus lines, but the good news is that the new fare gates will accept tokens and the existing monthly passes for now. I want to see the new fare collection equipment myself. Those new fare gates remind me of the security gates I went through when I worked at the State Street Building. To get through those gates, you hold up your building ID to the sensor. Then you wait for it to beep and the gates slide open. It looks like that's how the Charlie Card is going to work.

I wonder if there will be any manual control by the collector for large objects (wheelchairs/bikes, etc..). It may end the frequent wave throughs that I see the collector at Roxbury Crossing give to friends/aquaintences who throw a couple of dimes into the farebox next to the booth...

There will be a gate by the"ambassadors" collectors booth as there is now .

NealG wrote:I wonder if there will be any manual control by the collector for large objects (wheelchairs/bikes, etc..). It may end the frequent wave throughs that I see the collector at Roxbury Crossing give to friends/aquaintences who throw a couple of dimes into the farebox next to the booth...

That would be a good thing. Collectors shouldn't be waving friends/aquaintences through the turnstiles as it is. I hope it does.

#5 - Dyre Ave wrote:Those new fare gates remind me of the security gates I went through when I worked at the State Street Building. To get through those gates, you hold up your building ID to the sensor. Then you wait for it to beep and the gates slide open. It looks like that's how the Charlie Card is going to work.

If that's the case I hope these cards are rugged enough not to get demagnetized too easily. That could be one unfortunate unintended consequence if the thingy inside people's cards craps out over time and however many months of constant usage.

Well if this job is to ultimately phase out token sellers (which, let's face it, it is) then what's to stop multiple people from sliding through the gate? Hell I've already figured out how to cheat the turnstiles... not that I do or anything.

Does anyone have photos of what this whole new setup looks like? The last time I was at Airport they were building the new security station.

The Boston Herald did not give the new Charlie Ticket rave reviews. They said it too 10 minutes longer and the tickets kept getting jammed. THere was a problem with the fare evader alarms that kept going off for carraiges and large luggage. I wish the T good luck.

Did all of the turnstyles at the station get converted or did they just close off the old turnstyles and divert everyone to the new ones?

If they diverted people it may be possible that the station may get wider turnstyles as opposed to the standard turnstyles just introduced...

savebowdoin wrote: -- Why, after making such a big deal about the new wider turnstiles at the new Airport station, did they go back to standard size gates? I know there is a handicap gate, but why not make them all this wide to accommodate luggage?

This was actually the first thing I thought of when I read about this.
Why did they even bother? And is it a pain to get through the new gates with luggage?


also, there's a picture in the boston.com article linked at the top.

savebowdoin wrote:Ok... My likes and dislikes:

I Like...
-- Relative ease of use of the TVM's
-- Display screens on turnstiles that display remaining fares
-- sensors that open the gates upon exit
-- how the gates dip down when sliding open

I Don't Like...
-- How, in order to exchange a token for a charlieticket, you must push "Cash" as the payment option, something most people wouldn't try
-- How you are immediately bombarded with two or more Service Agents when you walk up to the machine (I hope this won't be the norm for long... will be very annoying)
-- It is rather easy to miss which ones are Credit/Debit only
-- At Aquarium, one entrance is equipped with the new equipment while the other is completely untouched
-- Why, after making such a big deal about the new wider turnstiles at the new Airport station, did they go back to standard size gates? I know there is a handicap gate, but why not make them all this wide to accommodate luggage?


And, according to an official i spoke with, the weekly passes, when available on the new machines, will supposedly be able to be swiped on the old equipment (though I'm not sure how true this is, since the encoded stripes are designed differently and im not sure if the computers on the old turnstiles are sophisticated enough to recognize weeks over months). Do thye plan on modifying the old equipment to make them compatible before replacing them? Seems shady to me...

Anyone else have thoughts?? I'll be trying it out again in the morning.

I went to Airport station last night to check out the new machines. They do remind me of NYC Transit's MetroCard vending machines (albeit a little less colorful). They look relatively simple to use, but then again, I'm used to the MetroCard machines and that's how I put money on the card when I go back to NY.

I noticed the dip when the gates opened - exactly like the security gates at the State Street Building in downtown Boston. Probably the same manufacturer. One of the customer assistants told me the schedule for when the entire Blue Line should be done - by this Fall. Another one showed me how to put my subway pass in the machine - upside down so the strip faces the bottom. I think the new system will go well as long as they don't rush it into service and take good care of the machinery, despite what the Herald and Bad Transit say.