{"items": [{"author": "Robert", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693898804112", "anchor": "fb-693898804112", "service": "fb", "text": "What would fix it is Charlie Card machines at bus stops, or at least at places more convenient than subway stations for those people that only ever take the bus.", "timestamp": "1414274226"}, {"author": "Nicholas", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/101518900119583621006", "anchor": "gp-1414274415577", "service": "gp", "text": "True, but it comes with one big disadvantage: the numerous different fares are confusing enough as it is, and if someone is used to having to pay $1.60 every time they use a charlie card, they may not put enough money on making the process even slower.", "timestamp": 1414274415}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1414274701263", "service": "gp", "text": "@Nicholas\n\u00a0\"if someone is used to having to pay $1.60 every time they use a charlie card, they may not put enough money on making the process even slower.\"\n
\n
\nThe machine should refuse to let you put on an amount that would leave you with less than a single fare.", "timestamp": 1414274701}, {"author": "Michael", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/110347619670230195222", "anchor": "gp-1414274717162", "service": "gp", "text": "One of the nicer features of the coming-in-2015 SEPTA Key is online reloading of card balances. \u00a0I don't know if CharlieCard balances are centrally tracked enough to adopt that as a feature.", "timestamp": 1414274717}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693900026662", "anchor": "fb-693900026662", "service": "fb", "text": "@Robert: There are already fare machines at subway stations, but adding machines at some of the busiest bus intersections could be worth it. Maybe Union sq? But really this is just a loophole with how the cash-on-board fee is charged.", "timestamp": "1414275019"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1414275343016", "service": "gp", "text": "@MN\n\u00a0You can, but it's awkward:\n
\n
\n\"To receive your CharlieCard purchase(s) tap your CharlieCard at a Fare Vending Machine or a subway Fare Gate after 5:00 AM tomorrow.\" [1]\n
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\nSo you fill it online, but you can't use it on a bus until you've gone to a subway station first.\n
\n
\n[1] \nhttps://charliecard.mbta.com/CharlieCardWebProgram/pages/reloadCharlieCardIV.jsf", "timestamp": 1414275343}, {"author": "Nicholas", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/101518900119583621006", "anchor": "gp-1414275432106", "service": "gp", "text": "@Jeff Kaufman\n
\nFair point.\u00a0 This wouldn't work if someone was getting a transfer onto a subway afterwords, but they could always fill it up again.\u00a0 The only other disadvantage that pops into mind is if someone commutes only by bus they would be forced to spend the extra money when filling up their cards.\u00a0 Although (in my opinion) the advantages of this change would make up for these inconveniences.", "timestamp": 1414275432}, {"author": "Kiran", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693901753202", "anchor": "fb-693901753202", "service": "fb", "text": "Charlie cards can now be recharged online, but that's not helpful to people who don't have credit cards.", "timestamp": "1414276065"}, {"author": "Clara", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693905236222", "anchor": "fb-693905236222", "service": "fb", "text": "This would be pretty easily solved by allowing you to purchase and reload cards at local convenience stores, as in the Bay Area and London.", "timestamp": "1414278766"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693906024642", "anchor": "fb-693906024642", "service": "fb", "text": "@Kiran: You don't need a credit card; a prepaid card or bank card works.", "timestamp": "1414279175"}, {"author": "Mark", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693920505622", "anchor": "fb-693920505622", "service": "fb", "text": "how much might rounding the cost on the train up to the nearest dollar help?", "timestamp": "1414289321"}, {"author": "Emily", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693930096402", "anchor": "fb-693930096402", "service": "fb", "text": "I thought you can recharge your card on the bus like normal, I'm sure I've done it before, I didn't have to tap my card a bunch of times...", "timestamp": "1414296325"}, {"author": "David Chudzicki", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/106120852580068301475", "anchor": "gp-1414304693701", "service": "gp", "text": "Would you guess the dollar value of the externality imposed on society by refilling the card on the bus is roughly $.50?", "timestamp": 1414304693}, {"author": "Peter", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693945934662", "anchor": "fb-693945934662", "service": "fb", "text": "You can recharge Charlie cards at some convenience stores.", "timestamp": "1414324188"}, {"author": "Peter", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693945954622", "anchor": "fb-693945954622", "service": "fb", "text": "How about putting a second machine at the back of the bus for charging the card?", "timestamp": "1414324236"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1414331025701", "service": "gp", "text": "@David Chudzicki\n\u00a0I think the externality is larger than $0.50, but $0.50 is enough to keep most people from doing it. \u00a0Larger would feel unfair.", "timestamp": 1414331025}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693955221052", "anchor": "fb-693955221052", "service": "fb", "text": "This would be seriously discriminatory against people whose commutes don't involve subway stations, and especially people who don't have money to spare and therefore have to recharge more often.", "timestamp": "1414332830"}, {"author": "Rachel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693961498472", "anchor": "fb-693961498472", "service": "fb", "text": "Refilling the card on the bus goes like this: hit white button, tap card, feed money into machine, hit button, tap card, tap card. In practice there is effectively a surcharge for doing it on the bus because it happens pretty often that if you're slow feeding the money or hit the button/tap the card at the wrong moment, it'll either give the money on a charlie ticket (which charges the higher fare) or if the ticket printer is out of commission it straight up eats your money.", "timestamp": "1414338432"}, {"author": "Julia", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693968669102", "anchor": "fb-693968669102", "service": "fb", "text": "BDan, it would also save the time of such people. It would effectively cost more to a few people, and would save the time of everyone using the buses (making buses suck less for people who depend on them).", "timestamp": "1414343684"}, {"author": "Amelia", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693972561302", "anchor": "fb-693972561302", "service": "fb", "text": "I feel like it's already really inconvenient to refill your charlie card on a bus, and that's a legitimate deterrent. I think they should just put charlie machines at more bus stops. I could be wrong, obviously. But I wonder if, people being people, there will always be someone who forgot and has to do it on the bus. When it happens to me, I let everyone on first and then refill, and the driver can start driving while I do so.", "timestamp": "1414345773"}, {"author": "Amelia", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=693973903612", "anchor": "fb-693973903612", "service": "fb", "text": "Now I'm wondering why they haven't been doing Jeff's suggestion all along, since it's basically already built into the system. Did they leave the loophole because they think Charlie Card users are already incentivized to fill up ahead of time, and it's just mean to punish them when they run out without realizing it?", "timestamp": "1414346052"}, {"author": "Joshua", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694093698542", "anchor": "fb-694093698542", "service": "fb", "text": "The reduced fare is an incentive to use a Charlie card, not paper tickets or cash. Keeping the incentive easy to understand and simple is important. Although it seems counter-intuitive to provide an incentive to use a slower method on a bus, I think it's more important to keep the rules simple: Pay with a Charlie card and it's cheaper. If you change that to \"Pay with a Charlie card and it's cheaper unless you filled the Charlie card on a bus,\" it reduces the simplicity of the message and will reduce the use of Charlie cards. When you have a general rule, there will often be some negative edge effects. Sometimes it's better to accept the negative edge effects than to try to solve the problem with a series of exceptions. Most people with adequate resources will avoid this problem or only use it in rare instances.", "timestamp": "1414433113"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694096008912", "anchor": "fb-694096008912", "service": "fb", "text": "@Joshua: The messages are \"pay with Charlie Card and it's cheaper\" and \"putting money on your card on the bus costs $0.50\". That doesn't sound too confusing.", "timestamp": "1414434276"}, {"author": "Joshua", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694096073782", "anchor": "fb-694096073782", "service": "fb", "text": "I guess I'm easily confused.", "timestamp": "1414434339"}, {"author": "Alex", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694096413102", "anchor": "fb-694096413102", "service": "fb", "text": "The idea of penalizing card holders for not keeping track of how much they (don't) have on their cards seems a bit harsh.", "timestamp": "1414434520"}, {"author": "Jean", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694097960002", "anchor": "fb-694097960002", "service": "fb", "text": "Whoever invents the magnetized card strip that displays the amount left on it in human-readable form is going to get rich.", "timestamp": "1414435133"}, {"author": "Ross", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/693892821102?comment_id=694106013862", "anchor": "fb-694106013862", "service": "fb", "text": "Alex: Penalizing them by $0.50...which is to say, down to the non-card-holder rate? Certainly isn't overly kind, but I wouldn't say \"harsh\".
Jean: To be fair, the tap-terminal *does* display current balance every time you bleep the thing.", "timestamp": "1414438458"}]}