The Boston Traveler

Both visitors to and residents of Boston have something to get happy about these days as the MBTA spreads news about two commendable developments: the testing of free wireless Internet access on the commuter rail line and a record ten-year low in the violent crime rate on Massachusetts’ public transportation system.
In the first case, starting this Wednesday, the MBTA will make Wi-Fi service available on the Worcester/Framingham commuter line, one of the busiest lines in the commuter rail system. As a result, passengers will presumably have the ability to do just about anything they normally could on their Internet-ready …read more

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Whew! That was a close one! Amtrak workers are not going on strike!
Just about everyone who commutes into, out of, and within Boston on weekdays had one thing on their mind recently—the rapidly increasing likelihood that Amtrak employees would go on a nationwide strike come 12:01am on January 30.
If such a catastrophe occurred, the heavily used commuter rail system that lugs suburbanites in and out of metropolitan Boston via South Station—the main hub for Amtrak in the area—would become unavailable. Travelers forced to use the city’s public transportation routes as an alternative would then inevitably contribute to …read more

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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 …read more

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On Tuesday, December 4, the latest fare collection method of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (better known as simply the MBTA) turned one year old. Bay State residents call the electronic “smart card” that supplanted the former T-pass and token system the CharlieCard, or just plain Charlie for short.
Charlie’s a handy little hard-plastic guy, very much like a credit card in appearance, that allows you to do all sorts of wonderful things, such as ride public transportation for less money with the significant fare discount allotted to purchasers.
There’s also a paper-based, swipeable CharlieTicket, which is dispensed at vending machines …read more

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