Charlie's Got a Brand New Bread Truck

The MBTA recently set into motion their newest advocate of the CharlieTicket/Charlie Card system – the Charlie Truck. The official spokes-truck of the fare collection system will now roll to public events and locations across the MBTA service area to promote the use of the new fare collection system. Fare collection has been confusing to tourists and locals alike ("Charlie down, arrow up.") The T administration hopes that the customer service vehicle will help to answer questions and get more passengers on board with the token-less system of doing things. The Charlie Cards will soon be available and allow passengers to tap the gate and pass – eliminating the feeding process that the already deployed CharlieTicket requires.

Naming the card for Charlie (mp3), a guy in 1948 who was stuck on the T because he didn't have exit fare (one of the first of many MBTA confusing policies), may have been the first problem for the new system. Since the roll out began into stations across the system and soon into busses has proven difficult for passengers to adjust. Fare collection across the system will soon be uniform in accepting the CharlieTicket and the Charlie Card. Why there is a space in Charlie Card and not in CharlieTicket is anyone's guess. Starting in November the T will make the Cards available – allowing passengers to add value to the cards and perhaps cutting down on the amount of Charlie litter. With over 100 bus routes and all the colored subway lines in the MBTA system it's curious why the MBTA thinks bread truck advocacy is any more effective than, say, slapping one of those bus-sized stickers on the MBTA busses.