From credit cards to watches and phones, the MBTA just added ways to pay for rides throughout Greater Boston – with just a tap.
Following in the footsteps of New York, Chicago and London more than a decade ago, Boston rolled out its first batch of contactless card readers Thursday to gated subways, buses and green line trolleys.
The payment systems, supplied through a $926 million contract with San Diego’s Cubic Corp., are available throughout Cambridge and Somerville on the red line, green line and orange line, along with MBTA buses throughout the region.
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and most credit cards are accepted. Riders should take care to keep bags, wallets and phones out of close proximity to the readers after they board to avoid an accidental charge.
The card readers are separate from existing CharlieCard readers, and riders will still have the option to use CharlieCards, monthly passes and any other existing payment forms the MBTA offers.
Riders using the new contactless technology should be sure to use the same card or device when transferring to a bus or second train. Riders can also go to charlie.mbta.com to link their reduced fare benefits to their payment forms, see their travel history and report issues with the system.
The program will not expand to commuter rails and ferries until spring of 2026, according to the MBTA. That means riders boarding the Porter Square commuter rail train will still need to buy a CharlieTicket or use the mTicket app.
Concurrently, the MBTA will look to hire new fare engagement officers by the winter, The Boston Globe reported. The officers will cite riders who have not paid their fares. The readers are installed on the back entrances to green line trolleys; with CharlieCards, riders were required to pay only at the front door, next to the train operator.
Despite the hefty price tag on the contactless project, the MBTA has paid Cubic only $23 million to date and will owe another $131 million for the first phase of the project, agency officials explained at a July 25 board meeting. Much of the contract’s cost is spread out through the end of the contract, ending in 2033.
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“Riders should take care to keep bags, wallets and phones out of close proximity to the readers after they board to avoid an accidental charge.”
So they know the system is buggy but decided to roll it out anyway. Awesome.
I’m sure the process for getting a refund from the MBTA will be SUPER easy.
Bring back the ability to recharge Charlie’s online. Easy. Sensible.
“Touchless”. Complicated and Dumb.
Wacky idea to bypass spending an amortized *billion* dollars to help beta test confusing new ‘high-tech’ faretaking systems, that don’t really work well, and slow down the boarding process:
Make the T free for all riders – No new boarding pass system, no pass system at all!
A flaky system on top of a bad idea is just what we did not need to spend a billion dollars on and to have a bunch of middle men reap profits out of it.
The MBTA and the State Gov. forced this thru without listening to all the people that petitioned otherwise and that attended the meetings etc. It was a done deal as far as they were concerned before the public ever got any input into it. Someone got campaign kick backs on this for sure that pushed it thru.
More corruption at the MBTA from the Charlie B. appointees I suspect is behind this debacle.