Lynn Ma commuter rail fare (Boston, Orange: home, transfer, to buy)

[ivyleaguediver]

I normally travel from Lynn to Boston driving to Wonderland Station and taking the Blue line in and then switching to other lines. I use a monthly Charlie card partly paid by my employer and partly by me. Because of the pandemic, I have been working at home and have not traveled in since the end of March. In July, I will have to start coming in again. I see that for the months of July and August, the MBTA will allow travel on the commuter rail from Lynn for the same fare as the Blue Line. Believe they did the same thing at the end of May for a short period of time due to work being done on Blue line. Does anyone know how this works? Do I just board the train and show my Charlie card to the conductor or is there some other procedure? I would have to switch to green or orange line at North Station using the Charlie care. Also return in the evening. The MBTA website does not have much information. Another advantage is that the parking garage at Lynn is cheaper than the parking at Wonderland and I hope the train would be less crowded than the Blue line which can get very packed. Would appreciate any information.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by ivyleaguediver

I normally travel from Lynn to Boston driving to Wonderland Station and taking the Blue line in and then switching to other lines. I use a monthly Charlie card partly paid by my employer and partly by me. Because of the pandemic, I have been working at home and have not traveled in since the end of March. In July, I will have to start coming in again. I see that for the months of July and August, the MBTA will allow travel on the commuter rail from Lynn for the same fare as the Blue Line. Believe they did the same thing at the end of May for a short period of time due to work being done on Blue line. Does anyone know how this works? Do I just board the train and show my Charlie card to the conductor or is there some other procedure? I would have to switch to green or orange line at North Station using the Charlie care. Also return in the evening. The MBTA website does not have much information. Another advantage is that the parking garage at Lynn is cheaper than the parking at Wonderland and I hope the train would be less crowded than the Blue line which can get very packed. Would appreciate any information.

Interesting as I just learned of this. Charle Cards didn't use to be accepted on commuter rail so I'm not sure if new fare readers have been installed. The only other exception is a monthly pass (not pay as you go) loaded onto a hard Charlie Card with the zone number printed on the back. I used to get these directly from my employer at an old job.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Interesting as I just learned of this. Charle Cards didn't use to be accepted on commuter rail so I'm not sure if new fare readers have been installed. The only other exception is a monthly pass (not pay as you go) loaded onto a hard Charlie Card with the zone number printed on the back. I used to get these directly from my employer at an old job.

Looks like you technically have to buy a Zone 1a ticket on the app or at the station. Zone 1a is the same as subway fare, so that's where the "same low fare" bit comes from. There's no info in this release on how the T plans to handle transfers, but it looks they're not included (monthly passes are the only seamless commuter rail to subway transfer option). However, according to this release from May, passengers can just show a charlie card or ticket to the conductor. If that's still the case, then you have your free transfer - you show the conductor your card on the commuter rail, and then you tap in to the subway gate (with your monthly pass or loaded cash value). Maybe try to flash your charlie card, but make sure you have the mTicket app ready in case they ask you to buy a ticket?

Eventually, the three central Boston commuter rail stations will have fare gates for commuter rail passengers, and the trains will enable passengers to tap as they enter. But that's a ways off, so they're likely going to rely on the honor system (flashing the charlie card) for now. There will probably be some folks who take advantage.

[ivyleaguediver]

Thanks to those that answered. I decided to just travel to Wonderland like I usually did. Got to the station around 9am and the parking lot and garage were very empty (used to be full by that time on a work day). There were far fewer people on board the Blue, Orange and Green lines and there was plenty of room for distancing. Just tried not to touch the bars and poles. Hope it stays this way for the summer.