MWRTA Adopts Charlie Card
When the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority started four years ago, organizing officials used Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) fare machines on all of the buses.
Ed Carr, the MWRTA's executive director, said that decision set the agency up to make its next move - allowing passengers to use the MBTA Charlie Card payment system on MWRTA buses.
"We're trying to get interoperable with the MBTA..." Carr explained. "We're always looking to improve our technology, and this is a giant step forward in doing that."
The MWRTA operates 11 routes and two shuttle services throughout Framingham, Natick, Milford, Hopkinton, Southborough, Ashland, Holliston, Sudbury, Wayland, Weston, Sherborn and Marlborough. Bus trips cost $1.50 each.
Using Charlie Cards on the MWRTA system had been the plan all along, but it took the last few years to negotiate licensing agreements. A Charlie Card is a reusable plastic ticket that customers can purchase and add money to, eliminating the need to pay cash or buy a new ticket each time they ride public transportation. It's already used on the MBTA bus and subway systems, but not yet the commuter rail.
Bus Pass
The change will most directly impact riders on the MWRTA's Route 1 line, which runs from the MBTA Woodland Green Line subway stop in Newton to Staples Drive in Framingham. Those riders are coming directly from an MBTA stop and previously needed cash to pay their MWRTA fare. Carr said he hopes the change will encourage more use on all the MWRTA's lines, however.
The MWRTA piloted the Charlie Card program for the past few years and now has the system almost fully implemented. Soon customers will not only be able to use their Charlie Cards to get on the MWRTA buses, but will be able to add money to Charlie Cards, too.
Mary Ellen Blunt, transportation program manager for the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, said the move is a step toward having a statewide transit card. While the CMRPC does not directly oversee the MWRTA, Blunt said her staff is working with the Worcester Regional Planning Authority to expand not only the Charlie Card's use on the Worcester Regional Transit Authority system, but also create additional connections between the MWRTA and the WRTA.
"This is definitely the wave of the future, so we all need to think about how we can create a seamless statewide system," she said.
One important step to doing that, she said, will be to incorporate the Charlie Card's use on the commuter rail.
The MWRTA has adopted other new technologies as well.
On the MWRTA's website users can track in real time where each bus is on the system. The MBTA does not even have that capability. Each of the MWRTA buses has a cell phone on it that provides real-time tracking data showing where each bus is on a map.
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