Globe editorial: Not the same old T

EDITORIAL OPINION
Not the same old T
March 12, 2006

THE CARS are air conditioned, the stations are better maintained, and the elevated has been torn down, but much of the MBTA hasn't really changed much since I started riding it regularly in 1959. The trains still clatter through the tunnels, the wait can sometimes be interminable for mysterious reasons, and many riders still have to deposit coins or tokens in the fare box. Last week, at South Station, I bought my first Charlie Ticket, and there's reason to hope this will signal an era of improved service for the venerable transit system.

Many people, accustomed to tokens or monthly passes, had difficulty initially with the tickets on Monday, when they were first deployed at South Station, second busiest stop in the system. But on Tuesday, with the addition of seven new fare machines and the help of five or six friendly T workers, people were able to enter the subway without difficulty. By the end of the year, assuming the system functions properly, all MBTA stations will contain Charlie equipment and almost all T riders will be happy to use either the tickets or the plastic Charlie Cards.

For an occasional rider like myself, the paper Charlie Ticket is a big improvement over tokens. There'll be no more fumbling for change at a fare booth as I watch the train leave the station. I can load up the ticket with prepaid fares and zip on through.

Elderly or disabled people, who are eligible for reduced fares, are the first to get the plastic Charlie Card, which with one swipe opens the fare gate into the T. People who now use T monthly passes will also enjoy this new level of convenience. They'll be switched to the Charlie Card within a year, and, once that happens, they can have the monthly cost deducted from a credit card. They'll never again have to get a new monthly card.

In a telephone interview, T General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said last week that the introduction of Charlie is going well, despite the inevitable questions and initial confusion. The Charlie system will allow Grabauskas to gauge much better the ridership of the system. It will also reduce the number of fare evaders. Scofflaws won't be able to slip past the fare gates as they now do over, under, and around the turnstiles. And holders of monthly passes will no longer be able to give them to friends across the turnstiles to sneak them in. If they do that with the Charlie Card, it won't open the gate.

What the card won't do, however, is preclude the need for a fare increase next year. Grabauskas estimates the T will need to raise revenues from passengers by 25 percent to maintain the existing level of service.

The introduction of Charlie does make it possible to eliminate some of the current fare absurdities that annoy riders and unfairly add to the cost of using the T. Why should someone be able to ride all over the underground core of the T, from Kenmore to Ashmont, say, for only $1.25, while another person who rides the same distance but takes a bus part of the way has to add another 90 cents for the bus fare? Grabauskas figures that whatever the new fare might be, the Charlie system will allow the bus/subway rider to pay the same amount as the subway-only passenger. Charlie will not charge extra for the bus trip. Perhaps this will build ridership -- the key to any public transit system.

Unlike people who were unfamiliar with a system that relies on tickets and cards instead of tokens, I took to Charlie immediately because it reminded me of the Washington, D.C., system, the best in the country, which I have enjoyed using while visiting relatives. The Washington Metro has relied on paper tickets since 1977, a year after it opened, and it tailors the cost of a ride to the distance traveled. The Metro also charges less for riding at off-peak times. The Charlie system is not as precise, and the T has no plans to introduce off-peak discounts as part of the latest fare increase -- though it should raise the issue when it holds public hearings on the new fares. The off-peak discount is widely accepted in the Washington area, and perhaps T riders would like to try it here.

What I like most about the Metro is its rationality, from the fare system to the uniformity of its subway cars, to the information about frequency of trains that is displayed at all the stations. When I first rode the T, it was still the Metropolitan Transit Authority, a much smaller agency. It became the MBTA in 1964. It will never escape from its history as an amalgam of bus, subway, trolley, and commuter rail lines, cobbled together in fits and starts without the Metro advantage of having been built at one go.

But Grabauskas does plan to add some Metro touches. The MBTA will be replacing the public address system within the next 18 months so that people can hear the announcements clearly instead of trying to piece together a message out of a fog of distortion. And he expects electronic message boards to be in place at 60 transit stations within the next 30 months. T riders will finally get reliable information about the frequency and the length of delays. If these innovations perform as expected, riders in the future will no longer share frequent memories of the long stare down the track waiting for a train that never comes.

In 1959, I was 12 years old, couldn't drive, and had no other choice but to use the T to get from school in Newton to my home in Milton. But people are more spread out today, and many more adults have cars. The T has to get better to retain its riders and attract new ones. I'm glad I grew up in a place that enjoyed a good public transit system. The Charlie Ticket offers proof that it'll still be attractive far into this new century.

THOMAS GAGEN

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