This piece, originally drafted in 2023 and under development prior to that, is now somewhat outdated and moot as the T continues to successfully implement updates to its fare collection system. I keep it here for posterity, and in part for the analysis of ridership and fare distribution (which I believe remains relevant).
“Organization before Electronics before Concrete”, the saying goes. The present Fare Transformation project at the T has been stymied by a range of problems with “Concrete”, which I use here to more generally mean “physical infrastructure” (such as new card readers).
I present here an alternative to that project, an alternative which could largely be implemented at the Organization level, with minor additional modifications at the Electronics level (and which would achieve or otherwise render moot other objectives of the Fare Transformation project).
Ultimately, my proposal boils down to this: centralize fare collection to locations where faregates already exist, and provide riders a way to pay for their whole day’s travel at once.
Proposed Changes
In practical terms, this would entail the following changes:
- Halt fare collection on the outer parts of the Rapid Transit system
- Halt fare collection on most bus routes at most stops
- Maintain fare collection in downtown and other employment centers, including certain bus hubs, referred herein as the “Destination Zone”
- Shift fares from, for example, $2.40 inbound and $2.40 outbound to a single payment of $4.80 on the outbound trip – keeping costs to consumer equal and preventing a revenue deficit
- Modify the Single Ride (at the revised fare) to cover a day’s round-trip with transfers
Changes 1 through 3 can be implemented immediately. Changes 4 and 5 would require some modifications to the Electronic programming underlying the fare system; Change 4 would require nothing more than what is usually done when a fare increase is instituted, while Change 5 may require some minor additional modification.
Benefits
This would provide the following immediate benefits:
- Implement all-door boarding for almost all Green Line stops, speeding journeys and improving reliability
- Implement all-door boarding for most bus routes and bus stops, speeding journeys and improving reliability
- Provide equitable access to transit-dependent non-commuters across the system
- Provide an easy path to fare-free transit for short journeys within neighborhoods (a small contributor to MBTA revenue but a large local impact)
- Reduce the operational expenses and burdens of maintaining faregates on the outer parts of the system
“Destination Zone”
Fare collections would remain in the following locations:
- Red: Harvard to South Station (see note)
- Orange: Assembly to Roxbury Crossing
- Blue: Bowdoin to Airport
- Green: Lechmere to Kenmore, and on the branches out through:
- B: Amory St
- C: St. Mary’s St
- D: Longwood
- E: Fenwood Rd
- Silver Line:
- SL4/SL5: Tufts Medical Center and all stops north
- SL1/SL2/SL3: South Station to Design Center and Airport
- Note that SL1 is already farefree from the Logan Airport Terminals
- Bus (not all routes listed):
- 4, 7, 11, 43, 92, 93, 111 and express buses: all stops within downtown
- 9, 10 and express buses: all stops serving Back Bay
- 39: Fenwood Road and all stops north
- 57: Amory St and all stops east (mirroring the B)
- All stops serving Harvard Square (except for the 1)
- All stops serving Kendall Square
- All stops serving Longwood Medical Area and Brookline Ave
- All stops serving BU Medical Center
- Ruggles Station, Roxbury Crossing Station, and surrounding surface stops
- Nubian station (collected on southbound routes only, see below)
See additional notes on bus fare collection below.
The southern half of the Red Line is somewhat complicated. As a non-Destination Zone station, Broadway would be unusually close to downtown. This question will require more careful examination to ask how many riders disembark for their destination at Broadway, Andrew, or JFK/UMass.
Avoiding double fares for Destination Zone residents
Certain commuters (e.g. in Cambridge) will travel between two stations where a fare would be collected upon entry (e.g. Central + South Station).
To avoid these riders being burdened by a double fare, the Single Ride (currently used on CharlieTickets and CharlieCards) would be modified to last 18 hours and six “taps”, very similar to today’s structure, where a Single Ride is good for multiple entries within a 2-hour period in order to accommodate transfers from buses. This would ensure that these commuters do not have to pay extra (as long as they keep their morning ticket for the afternoon).
It is also worth noting that the majority of MBTA fare revenue comes from commuter rail fares, the RIDE and ferries, and from passengers using a monthly, weekly, or daily pass, with unlimited transfers, see below. These riders would be entirely unaffected by this fare collection change. Most pay-as-you-go riders would pay the same amount per day as they do now; a small fraction of riders would use the new Single Ride described above, with minor adjustments to their day-to-day.
Fare types
The 2023 Systemwide Passenger Survey found that 65% of riders paid using a monthly, 7-day, semester, student, or 1-day pass, with only 34% using “pay as you go”. The 2015-17 Systemwide Passenger Survey found that 74% of riders paid using one of those passes, though they note in the dashboard that this figure is higher than the one calculated from the fareboxes themselves.
Revenue Neutral
This proposal is designed to be revenue neutral for the T. Given the three-quarters of revenue that doesn’t come from stored value cards and cash, the majority of the T’s fare revenue stream would be unaffected – most riders already don’t pay at faregates or the front of the bus, they simply show validation of prior payment.
While the T is used for many kinds of journeys, the vast majority of riders will still journey into the Destination Zone, even if not as commutes. Since the equivalent of an entire day’s fare would still be paid, there would be zero impact in revenue from those riders (and may see a slight uptick in revenue, particularly from GLX riders).
There are a very small number of pay-as-you-go riders who would not enter the Destination Zone during their normal day. By my analysis, this would constitute less than 3% of Rapid Transit + Bus fares, which could likely be offset by operational savings and the greater reliability of fare collection at fare gates.
While I cannot prove this, I suspect that many of these non-Destination Zone riders are making journeys that we, as a society, would be more sympathetic to making farefree: elderly riders traveling across their neighborhood, parents carrying bags of groceries back from the store, suburban riders who cannot afford a car and must rely on infrequent bus service.
Conclusion
By consolidating fare collection into stations with existing faregates, the T can achieve many of its Fare Transformation objectives at a fraction of the cost and years ahead of schedule. This can be achieved in a revenue neutral fashion, and with essentially zero impact on riders. This consolidation would also improve reliability and travel times, and would lead to a long-term reduction in maintenance costs and, potentially, a small improvement in the rate of successful fare collection.
As a classic example of Organization before Electronics before Concrete, this proposal would enhance service, reduce expenses, and be achievable at very low cost.
Appendix: Fare Collection Logistics
Because bus fares are paid directly at the farebox, next to the driver, there is greater flexibility for implementing modified fare collection. For example, outside of the Destination Zone, drivers would simply open all doors and wave passengers on, while inside the Destination Zone they would open the front door only and monitor passengers paying as they board.
(At high volume bus stops in the Destination Zone, T employees with portable card readers could be strategically deployed at the back doors of buses to speed boarding during the PM peak, without the capital expense of new on-board card readers.)
At certain stations, such as Harvard, Kenmore, and Ruggles, the T could eventually implement faregates (potentially relocated from Outer stations) into the busways to speed boarding further. Front-door fare collection would continue for the first few stops outside of these locations, to deter riders from merely walking down the block to avoid a fare.
Special Case: Nubian
Nubian Square fills multiple roles in the system: it is a transfer hub, it is an Origin point for nearby residents, and it is an employment Destination in its own right. To accommodate this, fares would be collected on southbound routes, but not on northbound routes (including the Silver Line).
For Nubian employees, they would pay their Daily Fare when they start their outbound journey at Nubian; for nearby residents, they will have paid their Daily Fare at the other end of the Silver Line; and for transferring riders, most will have paid their Daily Fare elsewhere in the Destination Zone already, and so would “pay” using their Single Ride transfer.
Special Case: B Branch through Boston University
There are a handful of other nuances. Fare collection on the inner B branch would likely be in the outbound direction only, even though, elsewhere in the Destination Zone, non-transferring riders would need to pay/validate both inbound and outbound. The Inner B, as it passes through Boston University, would benefit from using all doors to offload passengers more than it would benefit from collecting fares from the fewer passengers boarding there (most of whom will have a fare collected elsewhere in the Destination Zone anyway).
Special Case: The 1 Bus and other circumferential services
Circumferential services do pose some challenges for the model of the “Destination Zone.” The most notable of these is the 1 Bus, which journeys entirely within the Destination Zone and serves multiple employment centers. While there is notable turnover across the entire route, there is a significant orientation toward the employment centers and transfers south of the Charles River. Riders who transfer to the Green or Orange Lines will pay their Daily Fare as part of their journeys on those Rapid Transit lines. The riders who most likely will not have paid their Daily Fare elsewhere are commuters heading to BU Medical Center, since the 1 is the primary transit service for that location.
My suggestion for the 1 would be to collect fares in the northbound direction at Nubian, BU Medical Center, and potentially the Green + Orange transfer points, depending how many riders are boarding as transfers. Riders can always use the Single Ride option described above to avoid paying a double fare.