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

Another round of emails inviting folks to participate in testing the new system, but it still says Perq is coming at a later time.
 
RandomWalk said:
Another round of emails inviting folks to participate in testing the new system, but it still says Perq is coming at a later time.
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So the test group is really limited? That is, just the rare few folks who get a monthly or weekly linkpass and pay full price at the machine?
 
I think they are gradually increasing the number of testers. I have a Perq pass, so I am ineligible. It does make me wonder if they’re just going to shove everyone on to a prepaid credit card for transit benefits, instead of supporting passes.
 
RandomWalk said:
I think they are gradually increasing the number of testers. I have a Perq pass, so I am ineligible. It does make me wonder if they’re just going to shove everyone on to a prepaid credit card for transit benefits, instead of supporting passes.
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Didn't CTA & Cubic try some version of that with the Ventra prepaid mastercards? As I recall, it was a bit of a dismal failure. Besides, pass support is kind of a key feature - I doubt it'll go away.
 
The new system will support passes. The issue here is passes issued through the MBTA's Perq Corporate Pass Program where you can get a pass pre-tax through your employer. I have a Perq pass and I never have to use a fare vending machine or the website—it just reloads automatically every month from funds deducted from my paycheck. I would be surprised if Perq goes away, but I can understand the T not wanting to take on the extra complexity involved for the test phase.

I do hope they'll add fare capping to the system either in addition to passes or instead of them (though if they eliminate passes in favor of fare capping, I hope they keep a monthly option unlike NYC which is replacing monthly passes with a weekly fare cap that effectively results in an additional fare increase for current monthly pass users).
 
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Continued progress on South Station fare gates
 
Yesterday I saw three different riders evade fare collection (all three were following behind another rider). Wood Island was the first and there were two fare enforcement officers who stopped them and had scan a card. The other two locations were within the core and the red jacket T worker saw them do the evasion and just stood by and watched. I get folks doing their job and may not be allowed to do fare enforcement, but wouldn't it make sense to have the red jacket folks also have the ability to cite folks?

Also kinda frustrating that I see fare enforcement at Wood Island, but have yet to see them at SS, DTX, State.
 
CBCArch61 said:
Yesterday I saw three different riders evade fare collection (all three were following behind another rider). Wood Island was the first and there were two fare enforcement officers who stopped them and had scan a card. The other two locations were within the core and the red jacket T worker saw them do the evasion and just stood by and watched. I get folks doing their job and may not be allowed to do fare enforcement, but wouldn't it make sense to have the red jacket folks also have the ability to cite folks?

Also kinda frustrating that I see fare enforcement at Wood Island, but have yet to see them at SS, DTX, State.
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The red-jackets are outsourced, paid minimum wage and get minimal training. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out from that why having them do fare enforcement would be a bad idea, but it's roughly in the same category of why retail workers are told not to confront shoplifters, for example.
 
TheRatmeister said:
The red-jackets are outsourced, paid minimum wage and get minimal training. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out from that why having them do fare enforcement would be a bad idea, but it's roughly in the same category of why retail workers are told not to confront shoplifters, for example.
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Don't disagree with this at all. Just frustrating to see it occur time and time again. The fare enforcement folks I saw at Wood Island were initially three individuals standing in a group, then when I returned to station later on there were two and that is when they stopped the fare evader. Makes sense to have two fare enforcement folks wherever they are posted (ie buddy system/backup for rowdy riders), just to the lame eye test it almost feels inefficient to have the red jackets AND the fare enforcement. I get it, but doesn't mean I have to like it haha.
 
I noticed on the MBTA site that mticket passes are slightly cheaper for the commuter rail...is there something I'm missing???
 
www.bostonglobe.com

MBTA says it brought in $8 million more in fares than expected in beginning of fiscal year - The Boston Globe

The MBTA said it had recorded its largest monthly collection of fares since the start of the pandemic.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
If you’re among the attentive few that pay close attention to the MBTA’s station announcements, you may have recently heard the agency’s general manager, Phillip Eng, thanking you in his New York timbre for paying your fare.
The gratitude seems justified: the MBTA announced this week that it brought in $8 million more in fares than it expected to during the first three months of the fiscal year (July to September).
The surprising surge in revenue is welcome news for the transit system, which has long struggled to regain riders after the pandemic.
“We are showing very, very promising numbers for the future,” Joe Pagliuca, a controller at the MBTA, said during an agency subcommittee meeting on Thursday.
Pagliuca said fare collection was especially strong across the Orange, Red, and Blue lines. Passengers are making good use of the system’s contactless payment system, rolled out last year, he said.
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I still have the old Charlie Card at the reduce fares. I once tried to use the new scanners & the machine says that I must use to old system. This is so stupid & ridiculous!! I can't use the new scanners because the pass isn't expired yet. According to the MBTA, I have to wait until the old Charlie Card expires before I can get a new card!! Why can't they just give out new cards anyway to the ones still using the old cards? They're going to have to have one eventiually anyway!!!! :mad: :mad:
 
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