A Visual CharlieCard How To
Last Saturday in the post “Happy Birthday, Charlie!,” I wrote about the first birthday of Boston’s CharlieCard transit payment system. The innovative “smart card” contains an electronic chip that allows passengers to preload money and then tap their payment when boarding public transportation instead of swiping or inserting it. If a passenger has mastered the tapping routine, the newer process can speed boarding times substantially (and if they haven’t, settle in for a brain-numbing wait while they and their ten — it’s always ten, minimum — clueless companions each attempt to learn on the fly).
Anyway… While digging around the Web shortly after publishing the piece in order to find material for another potential post, I stumbled across an informative video put together by some folks from the popular local blog Bostonist. The footage was totally state-of-the-art when it made its online debut since it was recorded the very first morning that the CharlieCard system went into effect.
Of course, the historic day in Boston transit history was December 4, 2006, and here’s what an intrepid staff member at Bostonist reported as he demonstrated how to put some travel money on a CharlieCard at a train station vending machine and then verify the balance. Warning, though—if you tend to get motion sickness easily, the jerky camera movements might trigger an unwanted attack. Otherwise, enjoy the stunning 49-second clip after the jump!
Tags: boston, charlie, charlie-card, charlie-ticket, charliecard, charlieticket, massachusetts, massachusetts-bay-transportation-authority, mbta, new england, public-transportation, smart-card, t-pass, the-t, videos
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POSTED IN: Getting Around - Local Transportation, Resources
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