austriaTREE

As those of you who may know, during orientation when we got the "How to BU" books, there was a Charlie Card in the back [as well as a coupon for a free tshirt]. But is this a REAL Charlie Card, meaning the ones that you sweep in the front and the light turns green? Or do we have to put money in it?

Cause I know that they were saying you needed to pay for them but here they are just in the back of the book, I mean looking at it, it feels legit.

So, can anyone clarify please? [=

arnoc

They give away the Charlie Cards for free. They have no value; you have to load them, and ideally you would keep the same card forever.

DJglover16

yeah you might as well keep it I heard somewhere that they're gonna start charging for charliecards pretty soon so people have been stocking up on blank ones. yeah, ideally you could use the same one as many times as you needed it.

Lergnom

There is no plan to charge for a Charlie Card but you do have to ask a T employee for a blank one.

dimpleyy

Just bring the Charlie Card to a T-station and use those machines to put money into the card.

kinshasa

When I visited my S in Boston last year, I bought a Charlie Card online before I came. It was one less thing to do while I was juggling my luggage onto the T.

MBTA > Fares & Passes

Devilsrule

Depending on how much you ride the T, I would recommend picking up a monthly T pass for most students. Feel things out at first and see how often you find yourself riding. If you ride at least 2 times every day, then it is worth it to pick up the monthly pass.

simpson98

Man, I hate Charlie Cards, long lines

Lergnom

Huh? The cards are cool; you can keep it in your wallet and tap it on the pad and go. I'll guess you're talking about the no longer free outbound on the B line. I agree that sucks.

Nickel Xenon

I've never had to use the subway, metro, train, etc before. So when an employee just gave my dad the card I was like, "Did you pay for that?" I didn't know they just gave them away. xD