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Can You Use a Charlie Card on the Commuter Rail

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CharlieCard
Charlie main-table-card.png
Location Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Launched December 4, 2006 (2006-12-04)
Applied science
  • Contactless smart card
  • MIFARE
Manager Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Currency USD
Validity
  • Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
  • Berkshire Regional Transit Authority
  • Brockton Area Transit Potency
  • Greatcoat Ann Transportation Authority
  • Greatcoat Cod Regional Transit Authority
  • Lowell Regional Transit Potency
  • Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authorization
  • MetroWest Regional Transit Authority
  • Montachusett Regional Transit Authority
  • Southeastern Regional Transit Authorization
  • Worcester Regional Transit Authority
Variants
  • CharlieTicket
  • Bike CharlieCard
Website https://www.mbta.com/fares/charliecard

The CharlieCard is a contactless smart card used for fare payment for transportation in the Boston expanse. It is the principal payment method for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Potency (MBTA) and several regional public send systems in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

The card was introduced on December iv, 2006 to heighten the technology of the transit system and eliminate the burden of conveying and collecting tokens.[1] It replaces the metal token, that concluding of which was sold at Government Eye station on December half dozen, 2006.[2] It is named afterward a fictional character in the folk song "M.T.A.", often called "Charlie on the MTA", which concerns a human being forever trapped on the Boston subway system – then known every bit the Metropolitan Transit Dominance (MTA) – because he cannot pay the 5-cent surcharge required to leave the train.

In 2022, the original CharlieCard system will be replaced during the "Automated Fare Drove 2.0" project, a organisation similar to the London Oyster Card. The new arrangement volition allow payments with contactless cards and smartphones, besides as new CharlieCards.[3]

History [edit]

The CharlieCard is named after the lead character in the 1948 protest folk music song, "K.T.A.". The song was written to protest a fare increment in the form of an actress v cent exit fare for longer rides and was later made popular by the Kingston Trio in 1959. [iv] [5] One of the rejected names for the farecard system was "The Fare Cod", a pun on both the way locals might pronounce "Menu" and the fish that was once integral to the Massachusetts economy, and also a reference to other transit cards named for ocean animals, such as London's Oyster and Hong Kong's Octopus. Another rejected name was T Go carte with the T being the symbol for the MBTA.[6]

CharlieCards piece of work on the MBTA's subway and bus services, most of which were converted in 2006. Token sales concluded on December vi, 2006.[vii] The final fare-controlled station to be converted was Fields Corner station on December 22, 2006.[8] They were originally expected to be usable on MBTA commuter rails and ferry boat services by December 2008,[9] with testing on the Commuter Rail originally planned for summer 2008.[x] However, testing had been pushed back to 2009, and full implementation had not been expected until 2011.[11] By 2012, the MBTA had abandoned plans to accept CharlieCards on the commuter runway system.[12] CharlieCards are non accepted on THE RIDE.[13]

CharlieCards are gradually being expanded to the other transit regime in Massachusetts.[14] CharlieCard acceptance has expanded to the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (October 2010),[xv] Brockton Expanse Transit Dominance (March 2011),[16] Lowell Regional Transit Authority (November 2011),[17] Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (branded "Tap and Ride Card"; February 2012),[18] Montachusett Regional Transit Authorization (March 2012),[19] Worcester Regional Transit Say-so (Apr 2012),[20] Cape Ann Transportation Authority,[21] Cape Cod Regional Transit Authorization (Nov 2012), Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (January 2013),[22] and Berkshire Regional Transit Dominance (Jan 2014).[23]

Engineering science [edit]

The CharlieCard can store a cash balance and daily, weekly and monthly passes that allow unlimited rides during the set up period of time.[24] Passengers use the plastic CharlieCard by tapping it against a target on a gate or a vehicle farebox.[25] When tapped, the gate or farebox either debits the cost of the passenger's ride, verifies that the card has a valid transfer or that the menu has a laissez passer that is valid for travel at the given time and location.[25] [26] Transit riders can add value or a monthly pass to their cards at machines located at MBTA stations and vehicles, MBTA ticket offices, and retail sales terminals at select outlets.[25] Beginning in 2009, CharlieCards could exist registered and have passes or money added to them online.[27]

The original CharlieCards testify no expiration engagement, but expired iii to five years after they were first activated.[28] CharlieCards distributed afterward had expiration dates printed on them and are valid for ten years,[28] with the exception of Student CharlieCards which expire at the end of the school yr they are issued.[29]

Prior to 2021, if a user needed to supplant an expired CharlieCard, they had to go to the Downtown Crossing pass sales office during business hours or mail the card to MBTA.[30] Passes and stored value left on an expired bill of fare can be moved to the replacement card.[31]

In 2021, MBTA announced plans to upgrade fare vending machines to be able to dispense CharlieCards.[32] They also announced plans to take the new machines manipulate "tappable" paper CharlieTickets, which tin can be scanned on futurity fare card readers that were under testing in 2021.[32] Additionally, the new fare readers would allow riders to pay using a smartphone or contactless credit carte.[32]

Smartphone technology [edit]

In 2012, MBTA announced plans to introduce tickets that could be purchased and scanned on smartphones.[33]

Effect on transit employees [edit]

After a shift to CharlieCards, some token collectors were retrained as Customer Service Agents (CSAs).[34] [35]

In March 2017, the MBTA announced they were planning on privatizing their customer service positions to increase efficiency. The MBTA hired a company called 'Block Past Cake" and named "Transit Ambassadors".[36] In August 2017, the new Transit Administrator programme was rolled out.[37]

Equally of December 2020, there were 200 Transit Ambassadors working in the MBTA arrangement.[38]

Card types [edit]

CharlieTicket [edit]

Automated fare drove equipment is also uniform with the MBTA's CharlieTicket, a newspaper card with a magnetic stripe that operates as a stored-value carte du jour or time-period (monthly, weekly, or daily) laissez passer.[39] The MBTA first implemented the stored-value CharlieTicket on the Silver Line in February 2005.[39] [40] Tickets are inserted into a slot in the gate or farebox, the fare is deducted, and the ticket is returned to the rider.[39] [41]

Wheel CharlieCard [edit]

On September eighteen, 2008, ii 150-bike parking cages were made bachelor at the Alewife station, next to the MBTA parking garage. Since then, a number of MBTA stations take been provided with secure, monitored bicycle parking cages. Previously, access to these cages required a free special Bike CharlieCard. Nevertheless, equally of the spring of 2013, any CharlieCard tin be registered for bike cage admission.[42]

Purchase options [edit]

When the MBTA transitioned to CharlieCards, they gave cards to riders for costless.[43] The cards gives a discount to CharlieCard users that began with the fare increase that took upshot on January one, 2007, and connected giving discounts with later fare increases.[44] [45] The MBTA continues providing the cards free of accuse at pass offices, stations throughout the system and local retailers.[46] [47] Certain types of CharlieCards take reduced fares, including those for senior citizens, disabled citizens and students.[48] [49]

CharlieCards can exist reloaded,[25] and CharlieTickets can exist purchased at Fare Vending Machines (FVMs) in transit stations, and elsewhere in the arrangement, including buses.[50] The fareboxes on buses and light track trains accept CharlieCards, CharlieTickets and cash.[51] In 2020, MBTA appear plans to stage out greenbacks payments by 2025.[51]

The majority of the MBTA'due south vehicles and stations were transitioned to the CharlieCard-compatible system throughout 2006, with Fields Corner the final to be converted on Dec 22, 2006.[52]

Fare Vending Machines are available at stations throughout the arrangement,[53] at Logan International Airport,[54] and within Fenway Park,[55] and at stations on the Green Line D co-operative. Proof-of-Payment Validation machines are installed at select stops on the other Green Line branches.[56]

Hereafter [edit]

Automated Fare Drove 2.0 [edit]

In November 2017, the MBTA Fiscal and Management Command Board canonical a $723 million contract that would supersede the original CharlieCard and CharlieTicket with a new system ("AFC 2.0", for Automated Fare Collection) by 2021, that would permit fare gates to be compatible with contactless payment systems that have since been built into many credit cards and smartphones. To speed boarding, payment readers would be installed at all doors of Green Line trolleys and buses (to allow a proof-of-payment organisation) and cash-on-board payments would no longer be immune, requiring customers to load cash onto cards at vending machines or retailers. It would also exist extended to the Commuter Rail, where passengers would tap on and off.[57] Public meetings on the new organization were held in 2022 and 2018,[58] but then stopped in 2019[59] until a revised program was announced in December 2019.[threescore] The new program, costing over $900 1000000, would roll out more gradually from 2022 to 2024. Information technology would lower CharlieTicket fares to lucifer CharlieCard fares when the paper CharlieTickets start using contactless payments instead of magnetic stripe readers. CharlieCards would no longer be free, but would allow for one trip on a negative rest, and there would be ane,000 additional points of sale for fare media.

On December 16, 2020, the MBTA announced that in Winter 2020-2021, the AFC 2.0 arrangement would roll out in a closed pilot program at Woods Hills and Ruggles stations, and on the 28 and 39 bus routes. This new system uses a contactless CharlieCard that has a simplified pattern.[61]

Criticism [edit]

Green Line inefficiency [edit]

The Green Line is the most heavily traveled lite track line in the The states. Because of this heavy ridership, in 2002, selected stops on the Light-green Line the MBTA implemented a pilot organisation known as Testify-Due north-Go, which immune riders to flash their monthly passes and enter through the rear doors of a railroad train, reducing congestion at the front end door.[62] [63] This organisation worked when monthly passes were on paper tickets, as each month's pass differed from the previous month, just became easier to evade when MBTA riders began storing monthly passes on CharlieCards, as passes held this style were harder to verify visually.[64] The MBTA installed a proof-of-payment system at certain Green Line stations to reduce the rate of lost fares. Machines were installed that deducted the fare from riders' cards and gave them a receipt equally proof of payment.[56] Additionally, MBTA inspectors with handheld validators were stationed at the busiest stops to deduct money from and verify monthly passes on CharlieCards, also allowing riders to enter through any door.[56] All passengers were required to go to the front of the train and make payment (or show their receipt) to trolley drivers.[65]

In July 2012, the MBTA reverted to a "front door only" boarding policy on surface stations outside of height hours to combat fare evasion. This policy besides required passengers getting off the streetcar to walk all the way to the front of the car to exit.[66] In 2016, the policy inverse to an all door boarding during busy hours and a front door merely during off-peak hours.[67] [68]

Security concerns [edit]

Security flaws in the CharlieCard engineering science were studied and reported in a presentation by Henryk Plötz and Karsten Nohl at the Anarchy Communication Congress in December 2007, which described a partial reverse-engineering of the algorithm used in the MIFARE Classic chip.[69] The MIFARE Archetype smartcard[lxx] from NXP Semiconductors, owned by Philips, was reported equally compromised in March 2008 by a grouping of researchers led by Karsten Nohl, a Ph.D. educatee in the Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia.[71] [72] [73]

In improver, the security used on the magazine-stripe CharlieTickets was broken by a squad of MIT students. They were scheduled to give a talk about their findings at DEFCON 16 in August 2008,[74] but were stopped after a federal lawsuit was filed against them by the MBTA, which resulted in a restraining order being issued.[75] [76] Yet, their presentation had already been published past DEFCON earlier the complaint was filed.[77] On August xix, the court ruled the students could give their presentation.[78]

Other MIT students leveraged the technology behind Charlie Cards in 2013, with the development of Sesame Ring, a vesture ring embedded with an RFID tag that would save riders fourth dimension in passing through MBTA station faregates.[79] The students formed a visitor called Ring Theory and funded development of the product using a Kickstarter campaign. The Sesame Ring can exist ordered online, or purchased in the MBTA Gift Store in Cambridge.[fourscore] The production was developed with total cooperation from the MBTA.[81]

See also [edit]

  • Listing of smart cards
  • Gemalto
  • Giesecke & Devrient

References [edit]

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  2. ^ MBTA bids farewell to an era the final brass tokens are sold Archived March four, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
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  4. ^ "The Kingston Trio". Billboard . Retrieved 2020-10-26 .
  5. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (2019-02-05). "Jacqueline Steiner, 94, Lyricist Who Left Charlie on the One thousand.T.A., Dies (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-26 .
  6. ^ Dig Staff. "Forever, 'Neath the Streets of Boston". The Weekly Dig. Retrieved 2006-08-09 . [ expressionless link ]
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  8. ^ Ryan, Andrew (December 23, 2006). "Last T Station Converted To New Fare Equipment". Boston Globe – via Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authorization.
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  10. ^ Goodison, Donna (2007-12-05). "CharlieCard setup coming to driver rail". The Boston Herald.
  11. ^ St. Martin, Greg (2009-07-27). "Riders going for 'Charlie'". Metro Boston. [ permanent dead link ]
  12. ^ Eric Moskowitz (Apr 21, 2012). "The app that Charlie really could have used". The Boston Globe.
  13. ^ "> Riding the T > Accessible Services". MBTA. 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-07-22 .
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  18. ^ "Final-Blueish.aspx". thirty Jan 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14.
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  20. ^ [ permanent dead link ]
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  23. ^ "Berkshire Regional Transit Authority bus fares". Retrieved 2014-07-15 .
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  27. ^ "Charlie Card Goes Online". world wide web.wbur.org . Retrieved 2021-05-04 .
  28. ^ a b "Expiring CharlieCards causing confusion and frustration". Newspapers.com. i January 2012. Retrieved 2021-05-06 .
  29. ^ "Heart and Loftier School Student CharlieCards | Reduced Fares | MBTA". www.mbta.com . Retrieved 2021-05-06 .
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  31. ^ Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authorisation. "CharlieCard Expiration FAQ". Retrieved 2012-06-04 .
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  37. ^ "Blind MBTA Passenger Denied Entry At Chinatown Says He Felt 'Humiliated'". 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2021-05-11 .
  38. ^ "Privatized MBTA transit ambassadors deserve better". Republic Mag. 2020-12-13. Retrieved 2021-05-11 .
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  40. ^ "Charlies wanted". Newspapers.com. 16 January 2005. Retrieved 2021-05-eleven .
  41. ^ "Conversion confusion". Newspapers.com. 28 Baronial 2005. Retrieved 2021-05-eleven .
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  58. ^ Fare Transformation
  59. ^ MBTA's Automatic Fare Drove ii.0 — Where Did It Go?
  60. ^ MBTA Hitting Reset On Automatic Fare System Rollout
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  69. ^ Cf. Wikipedia MIFARE Security commodity
  70. ^ NXP Product data on the Mifare card Archived September 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  71. ^ Ragan, Steve, "U.VA. researchers crevice smartcard chips – Mifare Classic security proven weak" Archived September 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Tech Herald, March 12, 2008
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  74. ^ DEFCON 16 Speaker and Talk Abstract list Archived November 5, 2015, at the Wayback Motorcar - Baronial 8, 2008
  75. ^ McGraw-Herdeg, Michael and Vogt, Marissa, "Students' subway security talk canceled past court order" Archived March eighteen, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, MIT Tech newspaper, August 8, 2008
  76. ^ Defcon Speakers Sued Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Motorcar
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  78. ^ Judge backs hackers in Boston subway dispute [ permanent dead link ]
  79. ^ "Clothing Your MBTA Pass as a Ring". Slice of MIT. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-12-15 . Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  80. ^ "Archived re-create". Archived from the original on 2016-10-25. Retrieved 2013-eleven-04 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  81. ^ Annear, Steve (July 17, 2014). "'Sesame Rings' Now For Sale on the MBTA'south Website". Boston . Retrieved 2014-07-24 .

Further reading [edit]

  • Brelinsky, Ian; Myhre, Brian; Novosad, Jennifer; Suarez, Chris, "Privacy, SmartCards and the MBTA: A Policy Analysis of the MBTA'south New Automated Fare Drove System", MIT six.805 class projection paper, December ten, 2004, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

External links [edit]

  • History of the song "M.T.A", for whom the CharlieCard is named

curryrehaddeed.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CharlieCard

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