T-riffic

[magid]

I just got email about the deduction for my T pass increasing next year as the fare increase goes into effect. I hadn't paid much attention before, but it's a 30% increase, which seems like a big jump all at once. That plus the health insurance payment going up next year (and, being a contractor, no automatic review that might include a raise), and I'm starting to think about what to cut out of the budget. Considering how much I've been using the gym, that might be it (and just pay for individual visits).

The Arlington T stop will switch entrances November 22, with the Arlington Street entrances closed for renovation and the Berkeley Street entrances available instead. It's closer to my work, which is highly convenient when there's precipitation. The current plan has them closing again when Arlington Street has been upgraded, but I'm hoping they'll keep it open anyway (unmanned is fine), for convenience, and also safety (much better to have options in case of trouble).

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Boston people: does anyone want a pass for two to a free screening of The Fountain tomorrow night at 8? It's at the AMC Boston Common (175 Tremont St.), and getting there early is advisable, since they give out more passes than they have seats.

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Interesting links:
Organic, free-range, free-trade... a guide to food labeling.
Courtesy of Hrafn, the Cloud Appreciation Society. Totally amazing photos.
For the art cow lovers: you can buy mini art cows.

Comments

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

How much do I owe you for the book, btw?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Nothing. My pleasure.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with everyone experiencing the T-fare increase. I really do think they'd be better off with small increases every year rather than huge increases every few years.

For myself, I currently use a Combo Pass (lets me use the subway and buses); under the new system I get that same usability with the new MonthlyLink pass, which actually costs $12 less (and thus almost offsets the $15 increase for health insurance).

The temporary change of entrance, especially if it extends through very cold weather, might actually make it worth doing a train change, rather than staying on Orange Line all the way to Back Bay.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I noticed that the Combo Pass people gain from the conversion. And it'll do the same thing as a Combo Pass, so there's added value, I guess, just one I don't use much.

Another thing I haven't figured out yet: a second email said that I'm to hold onto the CharlieCard they send me this January, and it'll be reloaded every month. That saves resources and such, but I'm not sure how I'm to prove I bought the cards for the discount on my car insurance (now, I send in a year's worth of used-up passes).

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. I didn't get second email saying to hold onto the CharlieCard they send me. Maybe they'll be sending a "reload" notification (like now they send the notices that they are processing the pass for X month, or sending it). Maybe you could print them out and use those notices as "proof."

The trouble with the big increase even though there is added value (in the pass because it covers subway and bus; in the fares because it gives free transfers between subway and bus), is that currently I think most people who have a subway-only pass rarely (or even never) use a bus so in reality they aren't getting much added value, and many people rarely need a transfer. Even more so for bus-only people, some of whom buy that pass because it's cheaper--I've known people who take the bus even when subway would be faster, simply to save the money.

So, it's good for the T, because they get more money, but it's big adjustment for the users who aren't going to benefit much from these extras.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about most people already having figured out what usage best fits for them, so changing the usability of a pass to cover more things isn't necessarily useful. I might take a bus once or twice more a month, but maybe not; I've figured out my usual routes, and they don't include buses (partly because I always have the feeling that they might just go anywhere, strangely enough. I know they won't, but.).

[queue.livejournal.com]

Even as a contractor at my previous place of employment, I got annual raises. Does it not work the same way in your new division?

I really don't understand why they don't keep the Arlington Street entrance open unmanned.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I signed a contract through the end of next year; there was no mention of an annual review or salary adjustment in it, so I'm not assuming there will be either.

I think the original plan was not to keep it open unmanned, but that was before they started installing the new CharlieCard readers. Though now all I can find about it on the MBTA site is this, which is pretty non-specific. I never understood why that was chosen, either, since stations like Central Square have multiple entrances, only one of which is manned, and it works fine.

[ckd]

Don't hold your breath waiting for them to keep both entrances open. The long-closed Boylston Street entrance to Auditorium Hynes/ICA Hynes...you know, the entrance that's actually closer to all the things the station's ever been named for? They have apparently installed CharlieGates there even though they have no plans to open it any time soon. (See this Globe Starts and Stops.)

Because hey, you may as well let expensive gear sit there and get dusty.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm just hoping that once it's open, it'll be clear that it's a good idea. Heck, the current configuration of the station is a bit scary for me, whenever I think of some of the what-ifs that could go wrong, with only one place people can easily exit.

The Hynes entrance: I don't get it. If it's unmanned, what does it matter to them whether it's open or not? OK, a bit more cleaning to be done, but really, that's not so much. (I have the same "want another exit" reaction to that station, but more mildly, since I use it infrequently. Which makes no sense, but there you go.)
$84K, just sitting there. So dumb.