CharlieCard

CharlieCard

Location	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Launched	December 4, 2006 (2006-12-04)
Technology	Contactless smart card MIFARE
Manager	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Currency	USD
Validity	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Berkshire Regional Transit Authority Brockton Area Transit Authority Cape Ann Transportation Authority Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority Lowell Regional Transit Authority Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority MetroWest Regional Transit Authority Montachusett Regional Transit Authority Southeastern Regional Transit Authority Worcester Regional Transit Authority
Variants	CharlieTicket Bike CharlieCard
Website	https://charliecard.mbta.com

The CharlieCard is a MIFARE-based contactless smart card used for automated fare collection by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).^[1] The CharlieCard was made available to the general public beginning December 4, 2006.^[2] The last metal token was sold on December 6, 2006, at Government Center station.^[3]

The CharlieCard is named after a fictional character in a folk music song "M.T.A.", often called "Charlie on the MTA", which concerns a man trapped forever on the Boston subway system – then known as the Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA – because he cannot pay the 5-cent surcharge required to leave the train. Since the card's introduction, the Charlie character has been used on a variety of MBTA signs, including construction and directional signage.

Name

The CharlieCard is named after the lead character in the 1948 protest folk music song, "M.T.A.". The song was written to protest a fare increase in the form of an extra five cent exit fare for longer rides and was later made popular by the Kingston Trio in 1959.

One of the rejected names for the farecard system was "The Fare Cod", a pun on both the way locals might pronounce "Card" and the fish that was once integral to the Massachusetts economy, and also a reference to other transit cards named for ocean animals, such as London's Oyster and Hong Kong's Octopus. Another rejected name was T Go card with the T being the symbol for the MBTA.^[4]

Card details

The CharlieCard can store value (keep a cash balance) and hold a combination of time-based passes which allow unlimited rides during a set period of time. Passengers use the plastic CharlieCard by tapping it against a target on a gate or a vehicle farebox. If left in a wallet, the card can usually be read when the wallet is placed on the reader. The gate or farebox then either automatically debits the cost of the passenger's ride, or verifies that the card has a valid transfer or that the card has a pass that is valid for travel at the given time and location. Transit riders can add value or a monthly pass to their cards at machines located at MBTA stations and vehicles, MBTA ticket offices, retail sales terminals at select outlets and online.

The original CharlieCards show no expiration date, but they did expire without warning five years after they were first activated. The first cards began expiring around November 2011. Newer CharlieCards have expiration dates printed on them and are valid for ten years, with the exception of Student CharlieCards which expire at the end of the school year they are issued. Users may tap their cards at a kiosk to find information on the expiration date; this information is not available online. Expiration of time-based passes that might be loaded onto a CharlieCard should not be confused with expiration of the CharlieCard itself; once a CharlieCard expires, it cannot be renewed and must be replaced. The purpose of expiration is to force users to replace CharlieCards on a periodic basis before they wear out and are no longer readable. To replace an expired CharlieCard, users must go to the Downtown Crossing pass sales office during weekday business hours, or mail the card to the MBTA. Time passes and stored value left on the expired card can be moved to the replacement card.^[5]

Acceptance

CharlieCards work on the MBTA's subway and bus services, most of which were converted in 2006. They were originally expected to be usable on MBTA commuter rail and ferry boat services by December 2008,^[6] with testing on the Commuter Rail originally planned for summer 2008.^[7] However, testing had been pushed back to 2009, and full implementation had not been expected until 2011.^[8] By 2012, the MBTA had abandoned plans to accept CharlieCards on the commuter rail system.^[9] CharlieCards are not accepted on THE RIDE.^[10]

CharlieCards are gradually being expanded to the other transit authorities in Massachusetts.^[11] CharlieCard acceptance has expanded to the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (October 2010),^[12] Brockton Area Transit Authority (March 2011),^[13] Lowell Regional Transit Authority (November 2011),^[14] Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (branded "Tap and Ride Card"; February 2012),^[15] Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (March 2012),^[16] Worcester Regional Transit Authority (April 2012),^[17] Cape Ann Transportation Authority,^[18] Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (November 2012), Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (January 2013),^[19] and Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (January 2014).^[20]

Bike CharlieCard

On September 18, 2008, two 150-bike parking cages were made available at the Alewife station, next to the MBTA parking garage. Since then, a number of MBTA stations have been provided with secure, monitored bicycle parking cages. See Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority#Bicycles for details.

Previously, access to these cages required a free special Bike CharlieCard. But as of the spring of 2013, any CharlieCard can be registered for bike cage access.^[21]

CharlieTicket

The automated fare collection equipment is also compatible with the MBTA's CharlieTicket, a paper card with a magnetic stripe that operates as a stored-value card or time-period (monthly, weekly, or daily) pass. The MBTA first implemented the stored-value CharlieTicket on the Silver Line in February 2005. The ticket is inserted into a slot in the gate or farebox, the fare is deducted, and the remaining balance is displayed on a small screen. The ticket is then returned to the rider even if there is no remaining value.

Purchase

CharlieCards can be reloaded, and CharlieTickets can be purchased and exchanged for new ones at Fare Vending Machines (FVMs) in transit stations, and elsewhere in the system including buses. All FVMs accept credit and debit cards; most also accept cash and coins. The AFC fareboxes on buses and light rail trains accept CharlieCards, Change Tickets, CharlieTickets, cash (up to $20 bills), and coins. When customers pay with cash on the bus, they may receive their change on a "ChangeTicket".

The MBTA gives a discount for CharlieCard users that began with the fare increase that took effect on January 1, 2007, and continuing with later increases. For example, a subway or trolley ride costs $2.10 with a CharlieCard but $2.65 with a CharlieTicket or cash. Local bus riders get a $0.50 discount with a CharlieCard ($1.60 vs $2.10),express bus riders pay an extra $1 or $1.50 depending on the route, and similar surcharges had been planned for commuter rail, and harbor ferries, but not THE RIDE.^[22][23] The MBTA also plans to continue providing the cards themselves free of charge, at pass offices, at stations throughout the system, at local retailers, and online.^[24][25]

There is also a senior citizen/disabled citizen Charlie pass, with reduced fares for qualifying individuals, called a "Senior/TAP" (Transportation Access Pass) CharlieCard. Middle school and high school students also can obtain a discounted CharlieCard.^[26]

Effect on transit employees

Ticket machines and fare gates at the World Trade Center station on the Silver Line.

Token collectors have been retrained as Customer Service Agents (CSAs), brought out of their booths, and assigned to guide MBTA customers in the stations. However, new insulated booths were constructed which allow the CSAs to monitor fare machine use and assist when necessary. The MBTA also plans "Hub Stations" within six existing subway stations. These glass-walled control rooms will house personnel monitoring various signal and alarm systems, including closed-circuit television. Personnel in the Hub Stations will be able to direct customer service agents to customers, and will interact with customers via call boxes located throughout the system. To support the added technology, the MBTA is connecting all subway stations in a fiber optic loop digital network, largely using its own right of way.

Automated Fare Collection facilities

The bulk of the MBTA's vehicles and stations were transitioned to the CharlieCard-compatible system throughout 2006, with Fields Corner the last to be converted on December 22, 2006.

Fare Vending Machines are available at all underground stations, as well as on the baggage-claim level of Logan International Airport terminals, inside Fenway Park, and at all stations on the Green Line "D" Branch.^[2] Proof-of-Payment Validation machines will also be installed at selected stops on the other Green Line branches.^[27]

There are no plans to install Fare Vending Machines at Silver Line surface stops at the present time. Instead, the MBTA plans to install fare card sales terminals inside retail stores at other heavily trafficked locations in the system, including along busy bus routes and near selected Green Line and Silver Line stops, and in non-traditional locations such as Fenway Park.^[25]

CharlieCard on the Green Line

The Green Line is the most heavily traveled light rail line in the United States, with an average of 230,000 riders each weekday. Because of this heavy ridership, at selected stops on the Green Line the MBTA implemented a system known as Show-N-Go, which allows riders to flash their monthly passes and enter through the rear doors of a train, reducing congestion at the front door.^[28] This worked well when monthly passes were on paper tickets, as each month's pass differed visually from the previous month, but became an issue when the MBTA encouraged riders to store their monthly passes on their CharlieCards, as passes held this way cannot be verified visually.

The MBTA's solution was to turn the surface portion of the Green Line into a proof-of-payment system to increase the efficiency of boarding at peak times on surface Green Line stops. All doors on all trolleys open at some or all stations, depending on the branch. Passengers can pay their fare in several ways, depending on their payment method. Passengers paying with cash must enter through the front door and pay at the farebox, where they may receive a proof-of-payment receipt. Stored-value CharlieCard or CharlieTicket holders may also need to pay at the farebox.

However, selected stops on all four of the Green Line branches contained ticket validators which allowed passengers to have money deducted from their CharlieCards or CharlieTickets before boarding, and provided them with a proof-of-payment. With this receipt in hand, passengers could enter through the rear doors of trolleys. In addition, MBTA inspectors with handheld validators were stationed at the busiest stops to deduct money from and verify monthly passes on CharlieCards, also allowing these riders to enter through any door. (Thirty of the handheld readers had been deployed, with an additional 20 coming by the end of January 2007, according to the MBTA.) Persons holding monthly passes could also just enter through any doors.^[27] All passengers, even those who entered through the rear doors, were still be required to go to the front of the train and make payment (or show their receipt) to trolley drivers. MBTA Transit Police conducted random checks to make sure riders had paid their fares.^[29]

In July 2012, the MBTA reverted to a "front door only" boarding policy on surface stations outside of peak hours to combat fare evasion. This policy also requires passengers getting off the streetcar to walk all the way to the front of the car to exit.^[30]

Security

Security flaws in the CharlieCard technology were studied and reported in a presentation by Henryk Plötz and Karsten Nohl at the Chaos Communication Congress in December 2007, which described a partial reverse-engineering of the algorithm used in the MIFARE Classic chip.^[31] The MIFARE Classic smartcard^[32] from NXP Semiconductors, owned by Philips, was reported as compromised in March 2008 by a group of researchers led by Karsten Nohl, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia.^[33][34][35]

In addition, the security used on the mag-stripe CharlieTickets was broken by a team of MIT students. They were scheduled to give a talk about their findings at DEFCON 16 in August 2008,^[36] but were stopped after a federal lawsuit was filed against them by the MBTA, which resulted in a restraining order being issued.^[37][38] However, their presentation had already been published by DEFCON before the complaint was filed.^[39] On August 19, the court ruled the students could give their presentation.^[40]

Other MIT students leveraged the technology behind Charlie Cards in 2013, with the development of Sesame Ring, a wearable ring embedded with an RFID tag that would save riders time in passing through MBTA station faregates.^[41] The students formed a company called Ring Theory and funded development of the product using a Kickstarter campaign. The Sesame Ring can be ordered online, or purchased in the MBTA Gift Store in Cambridge.^[42] The product was developed with full cooperation from the MBTA.^[43]

See also

• List of smart cards
• Gemalto
• Giesecke & Devrient

References

Further reading

• Brelinsky, Ian; Myhre, Brian; Novosad, Jennifer; Suarez, Chris, "Privacy, SmartCards and the MBTA: A Policy Analysis of the MBTA’s New Automated Fare Collection System", MIT 6.805 class project paper, December 10, 2004, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

External links

• History of the song "M.T.A", for whom the CharlieCard is named

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