charlie pass/charlie ticket (Boston, Quincy: fit in, 2014, apartment)

[mp775]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Why waste the machinery on creating two different versions of the same thing, only one being much more practical than the other and oneven confuses people?

The MBTA doesn't print its own cards, so there's no "inefficiency" with machinery. It offers two different fare products that are each more practical to a different kind of customer.

[bohemka]

For whom is the Charlie ticket more practical? Users of it are charged more per ride, and it's a much less durable material on which to store funds. I'm convinced it exists as a mistake tax.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by mp775

The MBTA doesn't print its own cards, so there's no "inefficiency" with machinery. It offers two different fare products that are each more practical to a different kind of customer.

What????

It doesn't matter what company prints the cards. The MBTA actively contracts with some company out there to make a redundant and confusing product.

What is your point? How is the ticket more practical? It takes a longer time to insert in the bus and holds everyone up. It can rip, where as the card doesn't. It is much lighter and not as easy to find if you throw it in a bag for example, and it makes you spend more money. What different kinds of customers are you talking about: The dumb ones, the new transplants, or the unfortunate people who thought they were buying a card and got a ticket instead? Those are the only possibilities as far as I can tell.

[lrfox]

Really? Tourists and short term visitors almost exclusively use the ticket. The cards aren't available at all stations and people just doing a single round trip or one way aren't going to fret over the small difference in price. We get millions of tourists. We get even more one-time users. I've bought a ticket when I forgot my Charlie card before. Almost every transit system has a similar system of ticketing.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Really? Tourists and short term visitors almost exclusively use the ticket. The cards aren't available at all stations and people just doing a single round trip or one way aren't going to fret over the small difference in price. We get millions of tourists. We get even more one-time users. I've bought a ticket when I forgot my Charlie card before. Almost every transit system has a similar system of ticketing.

I concur. Plus it's easier for a tourist to throw away a paper ticket (or scrapbook it) versus a plastic card that might have some money left on it. The more rugged Charlie Card makes sense for regular users and the ticket is cheaper/more environmentally friendly for casual users.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Really? Tourists and short term visitors almost exclusively use the ticket. The cards aren't available at all stations and people just doing a single round trip or one way aren't going to fret over the small difference in price. We get millions of tourists. We get even more one-time users. I've bought a ticket when I forgot my Charlie card before. Almost every transit system has a similar system of ticketing.

Because they don't know any better.

The cards should be available at all stations because they're better. The fact that they're not doesn't mean that the tickets are better.

Why would tourists prefer a ticket to a card? So they can delay entrance to trains and buses and feel like they got the wrong thing when everyone else is going quickly and hearing the ding when they tap (the ticket makes an altogether different sound- confusing).

DC metro I'm almost positive only has cards.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Really? Tourists and short term visitors almost exclusively use the ticket. The cards aren't available at all stations and people just doing a single round trip or one way aren't going to fret over the small difference in price. We get millions of tourists. We get even more one-time users. I've bought a ticket when I forgot my Charlie card before. Almost every transit system has a similar system of ticketing.

I won't say they don't exist, but I've never seen any system offering two methods of loadable transit cards with two different fare structures. Single rides, multi-rides, time-specific windows, etc., sure, but the function of the Charlie Ticket and the Charlie Card is exactly the same.

Originally Posted by robr2

I concur. Plus it's easier for a tourist to throw away a paper ticket (or scrapbook it) versus a plastic card that might have some money left on it. The more rugged Charlie Card makes sense for regular users and the ticket is cheaper/more environmentally friendly for casual users.

The paper Charlie Ticket is just as likely to have some money left on it.

[G-fused]

I still have a few NYC subway tokens!

[robr2]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

DC metro I'm almost positive only has cards.

That is true but you have to pay $2 for one.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by bohemka

The paper Charlie Ticket is just as likely to have some money left on it.

It's possible but from my experience, the casual user seems to buy exact fare. I have friends that have come to visit and used the T. They often just throw the ticket away as it usually has no money on it.