All Charlie All the Time

The MBTA made a bold marketing move in branding the new fare cards. Bold, but perhaps brilliant. Before the CharlieCard, before the CharlieTicket, all passengers have is the MBTA to blame. Now riders simply raise their fists and curse Charlie (think Shatner screaming "Khaaan!") the MBTA isn't scapegoat - it's the new cartooned mascot. A mascot who was taken from the verse of a song about a guy who was stuck on the T because he didn't have the exit fare to get off in JP. Today the system turned to all Charlie as the last token was sold.

This morning at Government Center station Rubiela Velez, an Eastie resident, purchased the last token the MBTA will sell. She was rewarded with a shiny new token, a framed certificate commemorating the event, and a CharlieCard with $100 stored on it. The T had leaked word that today would be the day the last token would be sold and tipped off press as to the location of the final sale so that press had the opportunity snap those oh so important photographs of Dan Grabauskas presenting her with the certificate. As she passed through the turnstiles at Government Center the MBTA staff moved in to replace the gate with a new CharlieGate. One should be impressed that the T actually accomplished the goal of replacing all the token turnstiles before the end of the year. Tokens will still be accepted until they're out of circulation, toss one into the new vending machines and a $1.25 credit will be applied to CharlieTickets and CharlieCards – not enough to get you a ride come the fare increase on January 1st (well, it will get you a bus ride, but only if you're adding value to a CharlieCard).

Bostonist isn't quite sure what is meant by "out of circulation" because we're holding onto a couple of T tokens we purchased back in September just for nostalgia. It was an added bonus that when our four tokens were handed over that one of them read "Metropolitan Transit Authority – One Fare" – the precursor to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) when the name change came about in 1964. The tokens have been used on the system since 1919, incidentally, and unrelated, the year of the molasses flood. Drop a note in the comments if you've got a stellar suggestion for what to do with the T tokens you've got in your change jar – better yet, what the T should do with all the tokens they're pulling out of circulation.