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Need a CharlieCard? Head to your local Boys and Girls club
By adamg on Thu, 01/09/2020 - 11:42am
MassDOT says Boston-area Boys and Girls clubs have been stocked with CharlieCards for people who want to get somewhere on the T (you'll still have to put value on them yourself):
- Edgerley Family South Boston Club, 230 West Sixth Street, Boston, MA 02127.
- Yawkey Club of Roxbury, 115 Warren Street, Roxbury, MA 02119
- Jordan Club, 30 Willow Street, Chelsea, MA 02150
- Sumner Club, 15 Basile Street, Roslindale, MA 02131
- Berkshire Partners Blue Hill Club, 15 Talbot Avenue, Dorchester, MA 02124
- Charlestown Club, 15 Green Street, Boston, MA 02129
- Franklin Hill Club, 5 Shandon Road, Boston, MA 02124
- Salesian Boys & Girls Club of East Boston, 150 Byron Street, East Boston, MA 02128
- Orchard Gardens Club, 2 Dearborn Street, Roxbury, MA 02119
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Comments
BPL Charlie Card
You can also pick them up at Boston Public Library branches and Copley.
Remember when?
Remember when we could just get them at T stations?
Those were the days.
Why did that stop?
Seriously, why does the MBTA make it so hard to get a card? (Serious question)
Other cities just have machines which dispense the card with fare, normally with a small fee if you want the real RFID card instead of a non-refillable paper ticket.
Re: Seriously, why does the MBTA make it so hard to get a card?
I agree with BostonDog, there are many government goods and services that are ridiculously difficult to obtain. In terms of card sales, every T station should have dispensers and every state lottery sales agent in one of the 78+ cities and towns served by the MBTA should be required to sell Charlie Cards. Of course the lottery commission and transit authority could never make that happen. I've said the same with 2 hour RMV wait times. Allow CVS, Walgreen's and the like to pay the state for the right to handle routine RMV transactions similar to the services offered by AAA. The retailers would likely be willing to pay the state a fortune for the opportunity to get people out of RMV lines and into the stores. Among my biggest disappointments in Charlie Baker is that as a highly acclaimed management guru, much of state government is managed far worse than it was before him. It certainly hasn't gotten any better.
PS- I also agree with FriarTuck. While offering the Charlie Cards at the Boys and Girls Clubs is a noble idea, it's fraught with peril if the general public (including sex offenders and other deviants) are allowed free access. They might want to limit stales to members and staff.
What are you doing
that takes a "2 hour RMV wait time"? Seriously?
The last time I went to the RMV in Boston (last spring), I was doing three different transactions. They had people at the door asking what you were there for and checking your paperwork. If your paperwork was correct, they let you in and pointed you to where you needed to go; if you didn't have your paperwork ready, they'd give you a form and send you away. As a result, people who got in the door had their shit together and their tasks got handled expeditiously (I was there for under 15 minutes - that's three different lines, Fishy), and people who just wanted to blow hot air got sent away. Are you counting your sent-away time in that "2 hour wait" maybe?
RMV
If you want a new license for example, I had all the correct paperwork and I still waited an hour and 15 minutes. I'm not really complaining that much I just think it really depends on what you're doing there. Different things take differing amounts of time
From someone I know who
From someone I know who drives the blue line trains, I believe they did it to push adoption of the new monthly recurring charlie card, which you can sign up for online and receive through the mail.
Why did it stop?
It probably corresponded with the T removing their employees from the stations and replacing them with contractors.
Well
On the few times there is an employee in the ticket booth (it happens) they always have a hand written sign taped to the glass saying, "NO CHARLIE CARDS".
The fare is a little bit
The fare is a little bit cheaper with the Charlie card. That is why they are so difficult to get. T riders aren't abused enough, apparently.
Songs that made the hit
Songs that made the hit parade!
You still can, sort of
I needed a replacement card so I went to the MBTA commuter rail window at North Station.
The polite man told me I could have a Charlie Card .. but that I needed to put "at least two rides" on it.
WTAAACTUALF
Sure
Did he follow you to the fare machine and stand there menacingly to make sure you put at least $4.80 on it? Or would $3.40 (two bus rides) have worked?
The cards cost about $1 each, but really they should integrate the chip into every drivers license and be done with it.
Better idea
Since not everyone has or wants to have an MA ID, why not just vend them through the machines and charge a dollar for them?
Its fucking 2020
When can we simply pay with our phones.
Not to be an alarmist...
But isn't this potentially inviting a host of sex offenders and other criminals into these clubhouses?
That's a pretty dark view of T riders.
Sad.
I think you want to be an alarmist
Have you been to one of these places in the last twenty years?
They all have desks that check on whether you are supposed to be there. To get a Charlie Card, you would speak to the front desk.
If you want to go into the facility, you have to sign in!
You don't just walk in and wander around!
Next time, get some facts straight, perhaps ask some honest questions before you and fishy decide that the produce of your wild paranoid imaginations is somehow related to reality!
OMG I got schooled by the ToiletSwirl
It's going to be a great 2020!
You got schooled because you're a complete ass
You got schooled because you're a complete ass, and Swirly is living rent free in your head.
Is there a way to put money
Is there a way to put money on a card somewhere other than a T stop?