MBTA Fare System (Charlie, AFC 2.0, Zone, Discounts)

Does anyone know how the fare gates at South and Back Bay Station will work for Amtrak tickets. (Yes, I know you scan them.)

Amtrak tickets are for parties not individuals, and can have up to 8 passengers per ticket. Will the fare gates stay open long enough for a family with 2 adults, 3 kids and luggage in tow to get through?
 
JeffDowntown said:
Does anyone know how the fare gates at South and Back Bay Station will work for Amtrak tickets. (Yes, I know you scan them.)

Amtrak tickets are for parties not individuals, and can have up to 8 passengers per ticket. Will the fare gates stay open long enough for a family with 2 adults, 3 kids and luggage in tow to get through?
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Same as north station Amtrak tickets. They don’t expire after scanning since it’s just a QR code, so the mom or dad has to stand and scan it 8 times.
 
bigeman312 said:
Why does skipping your fare hold a larger penalty than parking in a bus lane? The latter is a more harmful action committed by a more privileged group, so it should hold a larger penalty.
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It doesn't.

Fare fines: $0 / $50 / $50 / $50 / $100...
1755890890815.png


Bus lane fines: $25 / $50 / $100 / $125...
1755890918505.png
 
JumboBuc said:
It doesn't.

Fare fines: $0 / $50 / $50 / $50 / $100...
View attachment 66060

Bus lane fines: $25 / $50 / $100 / $125...
View attachment 66061
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That’s if one parks in the bus lane and gets caught repeatedly without ever going sixty days between violations. Unlikely. Here it is with a much more likely 60+ days between offenses:

Fare fines: $0, $50, $50, $50, $100 …

Bus lane fines: $25, $25, $25, $25 …

If the time it takes for one’s record to be reset was much more reasonable for drivers parking in the bus lane, I’d agree with your assessment.

Put another way, why does skipping your fare stay on your record for longer than parking in a bus lane? The latter is a more harmful action committed by a more privileged group, so it should hold a longer record.
 
Longfellow said:
Same as north station Amtrak tickets. They don’t expire after scanning since it’s just a QR code, so the mom or dad has to stand and scan it 8 times.
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The expiring MBTA tickets are so annoying. I wanted to grab Dunkin at North Station, but the one inside the gates closed and I had to get a Keolis employee to let me back inside after I had already entered the fare gates.
 
BOS2BON said:
The expiring MBTA tickets are so annoying. I wanted to grab Dunkin at North Station, but the one inside the gates closed and I had to get a Keolis employee to let me back inside after I had already entered the fare gates.
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How long were you gone to go to the other dunks? Isn't there atleast a 20min to 1hr window before your ride expires???
 
guitarguynboston said:
How long were you gone to go to the other dunks? Isn't there atleast a 20min to 1hr window before your ride expires???
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It's not the expiring that was what got me, apparently you can't scan into and out of the fare gates with the same QR code within a certain period of time. There's some sort of cooldown to re-open the gates once you've scanned your QR code once.
 
BOS2BON said:
It's not the expiring that was what got me, apparently you can't scan into and out of the fare gates with the same QR code within a certain period of time. There's some sort of cooldown to re-open the gates once you've scanned your QR code once.
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While annoying in your situation, that kind of makes sense. It's to prevent people from "cheating" by having multiple people scan a single ticket several times. It's the same reason why you can't scan your monthly subway pass at a Red Line gate, immediately exit, and then scan again to get back in.

Part of the problem is North Station's layout. The waiting area is INSIDE the fare gates. So there are going to be a lot of people who want to do what you did (especially if trains are delayed). In many places here and abroad the gates are at the entrance to the platform, so you're not scanning until you're actually about to get on your train. This is how it'll work at South Station (mostly, some people will likely hang on the platform anyway) which should mostly negate that issue.
 
Lrfox said:
While annoying in your situation, that kind of makes sense. It's to prevent people from "cheating" by having multiple people scan a single ticket several times. It's the same reason why you can't scan your monthly subway pass at a Red Line gate, immediately exit, and then scan again to get back in.

Part of the problem is North Station's layout. The waiting area is INSIDE the fare gates. So there are going to be a lot of people who want to do what you did (especially if trains are delayed). In many places here and abroad the gates are at the entrance to the platform, so you're not scanning until you're actually about to get on your train. This is how it'll work at South Station (mostly, some people will likely hang on the platform anyway) which should mostly negate that issue.
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Admittedly there are places like NYP where they do cordon off a "ticketed waiting area" for Amtrak/NJT that require you to show a ticket, and obviously have to show it again if you leave to go to one of the concourse shops, even as the MTA doesn't have fare gates, and that there are parts of the world with both - Eurostar, Spain(Renfe) and especially China come to mind, where Chinese HSR stations do a TSA style ticket & ID + security check at the entrance to the station, then checks your ticket for the correct train, then also does an exit scan to ensure the ticket reflects the correct station pairing.
 
Lrfox said:
While annoying in your situation, that kind of makes sense. It's to prevent people from "cheating" by having multiple people scan a single ticket several times. It's the same reason why you can't scan your monthly subway pass at a Red Line gate, immediately exit, and then scan again to get back in.

Part of the problem is North Station's layout. The waiting area is INSIDE the fare gates. So there are going to be a lot of people who want to do what you did (especially if trains are delayed). In many places here and abroad the gates are at the entrance to the platform, so you're not scanning until you're actually about to get on your train. This is how it'll work at South Station (mostly, some people will likely hang on the platform anyway) which should mostly negate that issue.
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I totally agree, I just wish that there was a little sign or notification on the app that warned me about that.
 
www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/10/28/2-months-0-citations-mbta-releases-numbers-around-its-planned-crackdown-on-fare-evasion/?

Zero citations isn't too surprising when they're issued only on the 2nd offense, but not going to lie, 85 written warnings in 7 weeks also feels quite low. Even assuming there's still only 16 of these reps, thats still less than one warning each per week - in fact, its 0.75 per week. Thats seems apallingly low, considering it's step 1 of the citation process, even if you're standing at a gated station. I realize they're there to incentivize paying your fare, and being visible does a good chunk of that, but the other, bigger part of operating a proof of payment model is having fare enforcement be credible. I also realize that full PoP isn't really viable until they get Charlie 2.0 online and handheld devices to verify taps, but all this sort of news will convey to the public and politicians is that the T's fare team isnt very effective.

Also... on a tangent - when the new fare engagement team was announced last year and through this spring, they wore a forest green uniform, which to quote the Boston Globe was intended to give off "more of a park ranger, than officer vibe." However the launch of enforcement, they'd conspicuously switched to a quite officer-y royal blue. I know psychology of color is a thing, but my initial impression is that the fare folks didn't appear to convey enough authority (having not actually encountered any yet).
 
Stlin said:
www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/10/28/2-months-0-citations-mbta-releases-numbers-around-its-planned-crackdown-on-fare-evasion/?

Zero citations isn't too surprising when they're issued only on the 2nd offense, but not going to lie, 85 written warnings in 7 weeks also feels quite low. Even assuming there's still only 16 of these reps, thats still less than one warning each per week - in fact, its 0.75 per week. Thats seems apallingly low, considering it's step 1 of the citation process, even if you're standing at a gated station. I realize they're there to incentivize paying your fare, and being visible does a good chunk of that, but the other, bigger part of operating a proof of payment model is having fare enforcement be credible. I also realize that full PoP isn't really viable until they get Charlie 2.0 online and handheld devices to verify taps, but all this sort of news will convey to the public and politicians is that the T's fare team isnt very effective.

Also... on a tangent - when the new fare engagement team was announced last year and through this spring, they wore a forest green uniform, which to quote the Boston Globe was intended to give off "more of a park ranger, than officer vibe." However the launch of enforcement, they'd conspicuously switched to a quite officer-y royal blue. I know psychology of color is a thing, but my initial impression is that the fare folks didn't appear to convey enough authority (having not actually encountered any yet).
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It's certainly underwhelming, but the change in payment rate is probably the "best" metric to look at for the program's start. And that has been doing well, from the little info we do have (from a T press release):
In October 2024, the MBTA hired and trained 16 Fare Engagement Representatives to answer rider questions about fares. Within the first several weeks, fare collection increased by up to as 35% at stations where the new Fare Engagement Representatives were on-site.
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BeansTheCat said:
It's certainly underwhelming, but the change in payment rate is probably the "best" metric to look at for the program's start. And that has been doing well, from the little info we do have (from a T press release):
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For a small value infraction like not paying a T fare, small nudges like the presence of a Fare Inspector is often enough to drive compliance. Saving $2.40 is not enough to warrant the risk of engagement with a visible fare inspector.

Increase in fare compliance is a much better measure of success than citations issued in this kind of situation.
 
Has the T made any progress on supporting Perq passes with the new scanners? The have been radio silent for months.
 
BeansTheCat said:
It's certainly underwhelming, but the change in payment rate is probably the "best" metric to look at for the program's start. And that has been doing well, from the little info we do have (from a T press release):
Click to expand...
I'm skeptical about the interpretation of "collections increased up to 35%". That wording really makes it sound like one outlier they are cherry-picking to fit their positive narrative, and I would be hesitant to draw any conclusions about wider fare collection "doing well". To me, the fact that they are not providing an average on per-station fare collection changes is more alarming than anything.
 
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