Top Five Complaints About The MBTA Electronic Fare System

Those of you who have been on the T lately know that it is in the process of switching from a token-based fare system with manned booths to an electronic fare system with computerized vending machines that print paper tickets with a magnetic strip (called Charlie Tickets, after the Kingston Trio song "Charlie on the MTA"). Well, yours truly believes that the system is ill-designed, particularly when you compare it with other electronic fare systems in New York, London, Washington DC, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Leaving aside the obvious complaint about the incomplete rollout, during which time certain stations only accept Charlie Tickets while others only accept tokens, here are my top five complaints about the new system.

1. Difficulties checking value remaining on tickets
When you purchase a Charlie Ticket, it comes printed with the initial value stored on that card. However, in the MBTA's infinite wisdom, that printed value does not update as you use the card (a la DC), nor is there a card reader in the station where you can quickly swipe your card and see its value (a la NYC). The only two ways to check the value are to put your ticket into a vending machine (waiting in line and navigating the clumsy interface - see below), or insert it into a fare gate to board the subway (and risk pissing off the people behind you when you have to back out and put more money on the card).

2. Fare gates do not retain empty cards
If you put a single $1.25 fare on the card and insert it into the fare gate, you don't expect to get it back. After all, you never got tokens back. But lo and behold, the fare gates spit back your worthless piece of paper. I guess the MBTA expects you to hold onto it and fill it up again, but why bother, since you can get a new one for free? You might want to recycle it, but since no recycling bins are installed after the fare gates, you just throw them onto the ground.

3. Cumbersome process to insert tickets
If you're a Type-A subway passenger (like myself, at times), you want to insert your ticket in the front slot, grab it from the top slot, and walk through the fare gate, all without breaking stride. The way it works now, it takes a split second to read the ticket and spit it out, and then another split second to open up the gate. The pauses aren't particularly long, but they are just long enough to make you hesitate before being allowed through. On the handicapped gates, the ticket is spit out of the same slot where you inserted it, requiring you to stand in place for that split-second rather than stepping forward to retrieve the ticket. And on your way, once you trip the electronic eye, there is another hesitation before the gates actually open. Again, it's not substantial, but it forces you to break stride, which is incredibly frustrating.

4. Vending machines are not user friendly
When you use the Metrocard machines in New York, the first thing the computer screen asks you is whether you want a single-ride ticket, a multiple-ride stored-value card, or a long-term pass. When you use the Charlie Ticket machines in Boston, the first thing it asks you is whether you want a Quick Ticket for $5 or some other amount. If you press some other amount, the choices you are given are, in order, $5, $1.25, $2.50, and so on. Nowhere does the computer actually tell you how much a ride costs -- you are left to deduce, or read the large stickers on some machines that say how much money a certain number of rides will cost (because such calculations are much to difficult for a computer to handle). And if you're paying with a $20, you're stuck with either a Charlie Ticket that will take you forever to use up or a pocketful of dollar coins (as Marge Simpson says, you can take them to the bank and exchange them for a real dollar). Oh, and only about half of the machines even accept cash, so unless you want to wait in line, you should get used to using your credit card for something that costs $1.25.

5. Entire ticket must be inserted, not just swiped
The MBTA's old system for monthly passes involved plastic cards that you would swipe through readers affixed to the top of fare gates. As long as the magnetic strip made contact with the reader, the card never had to leave your hand. You could poke holes in it, affix it to a keychain, write your name on it, etc. With the new fare gates, you must insert the entire card, which means taking it out of your wallet or off your keychain. You cannot punch holes in it, lest it become unreadable (though you'd have no need to do so, unless you want to take it off and put it back on your keychain twice a day). The old passes had a different color scheme each month, so that you (or a train conductor) could immediately identify whether your pass was current. Now, the passes are printed on the same stock each and every month.

Honorable Mention: The card is upside down
Unlike the old monthly passes, where the colors were on the top, the artistic Charlie design (see above) is actually the bottom of the card. The top of the card, determined from which way you need to insert it into the gate, contains the ugly computer printing with the T logo and the neon orange arrow. As a result, the side you look at has a complete lack of aesthetics, whereas the aesthetics themselves are wasted on the part you never see.