In 1948 a couple folk singers composed a song about the plight of poor Charlie, who got stuck on the Boston trolley system forever because he didn’t anticipate the complex new fare system that required a 5 cent exit fee to disembark. Ironic, then, that on January 1, 2007 the MBTA will be rolling out its new CharlieCard system and bringing additional confusion and complexity to an already difficult to understand system.

The new system incorporates Automated Fair Collection, a fancy name for fancy new turnstyles that confuse the heck out of people, make it harder for fare evaders, and allow the MBTA to charge variable fares and change them easily at any time. The system is networked (via fiber optics in the tunnels, and radio on busses) so that computers can centrally track who is riding where and when, ostensibly to allow things like free transfers, but at the same time allowing for sophisticated tracking and data gathering for the government agency.

Anonymous fares can still be purchased on a CharlieTicket, a paper card with a magnetic stripe that comes in two varieties, one that can act as a declining balance account (load up $5 and use it for 4 rides, for example), and another that works for monthly and other pass programs. The tickets are sucked into the turnstyles, read, and then spat back out prior to the gate opening. CharlieTickets expire, unlike the previous token system. The new fare vending machines that dispense the tickets use touch screen interfaces to give users various options (in an incredibly unintiutive way) and allow for payment with cash, credit, or ATM cards. A word to the paranoid: if you buy your CharlieTicket with a credit card, you have already lost.

The new CharlieCard is a contactless RFID-enabled plastic card that can “store” declining balances, fare programs, or a combination of both. Thus your CharlieCard can be “loaded” with money as well as, say, a 7 day LinkPass. The “Pass,” then, is no longer a physical object, but an authorization placed on the “Card” or “Ticket”. Straightforward, right?

Users of CharlieTickets (or cash) pay an additional surcharge, although why this is the case has never been adequately explained. A CharlieCard holder pays $1.70 for a subway ride, while a CharlieTicket purchaser must pay $2.00. Because the CharlieCard and CharlieTicket are both free, and because all stations are already setup to handle the Tickets as well as the Cards, I can’t think of any cost savings justification, so the only other possibility that occurs to me is that the MBTA wants users to use the Cards so that they can better track our behavior and usage patterns. And because they’re giving us a discount, it is difficult to not comply.

There are additional problems and exceptions. People who take the commuter rail in Zone 1A or 1B (which have no been combined) need to keep a CharlieTicket rather than a CharlieCard, becase there are no Card readers on the trains, whereas the conductors can simply read the text printed on the Ticket. These commuters, then, probably need a CharlieCard as well to avoid surcharges elsewhere, but this is unclear from the literature I’ve read. Additionally, the LinkPass, which includes both subway and bus passage, does not include Commuter Rail Zone 1A coverage, a seperate pass is required for that which costs the exact same amount. Why is it not given by default on normal LinkPass accounts? Probably because of the T’s desire to force users to have the CharlieCards.

Finally, all toll booths have been shut down, replaced instead with the occasional customer service station, where people have reported mixed results getting help. And while the transition is ongoing, there are various exceptions to the rules, not helped by the many T employees who seem just as befuddled as the pasengers. It is interesting to note that, while the MBTA has installed $6 million $89 million or more in new infrastructure to support the new fare collection system, it has not done anything to actually change or expand the transport services it is offering. But I’m sure they’ll get around to that just as soon as they finish raising rates.

Or maybe they’ll decide to actually publish a comprehensive guide to the changes that explains what is happening, how it affects people, and what benefit justifies how all of our lives are being so disrupted. Nah.