Ron Newman ([info]ron_newman) wrote in [info]b0st0n,
@ 2007-02-13 16:41:00
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update on CharlieTicket collection
For those of you following the saga of my discarded CharlieTicket project:

Yesterday, I brought 50 CharlieTickets worth $67.85 to the Charlie office in Downtown Crossing station. In return, I got a CharlieCard with all of that value on it -- but it took 45 minutes for them to do it. I then added 15 cents to it so that it has an even number of subway rides (40).

Later this week I'll donate the card to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. They have assured me that they will find a client who can use the card.

ETA:
A short guide to finding discarded tickets with value:

- If the ticket says "ADULT Stored Value" in big letters, it was bought in 2006 or even 2005, before the fare increase. These very likely have value remaining. For instance, if someone bought a $5 ticket and took three $1.25 subway rides last year, the ticket still has $1.25 on it. If he took one $1.25 ride last year and one $2.00 ride this year, it still has $1.75 on it.

- If the ticket's initial value was $5, it is likely to still have $1 on it, after being used for two $2 subway rides. Unfortunately, the fare machines make it very easy to buy a $5 ticket.

- If the ticket was bought with an initial value less than $2, or for a strange amount like $3.40, the buyer probably didn't understand the fare system properly and left some or all of the value unused.

- If the initial value was exactly $2, it isn't worth looking at because it was probably used for a single subway ride.

To determine whether a ticket has value, just stick it into a Fare Vending Machine and look at the screen display. Then hit "Cancel" to get your ticket back.

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[info]perich
2007-02-13 09:49 pm UTC (link)
That's pretty entertaining.

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[info]ad_lib
2007-02-13 09:49 pm UTC (link)
awesome! :D

i love everyone at the somerville homeless coalition, they're great! :)

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[info]mperrotti76
2007-02-13 10:09 pm UTC (link)
HI! My name is... HI! My name is... *wiki, wiki* Muthafreekin' RON NEWMAN!

Big ups, man. Good lookin' on that.

Ron when you die, there will be a place reserevd for you in Blogger's Heaven.

Or if you're Bhuddist you will come back as an acclaimed Blogger.

Or if your Hindu, Karma states that you shall now have 10 good blogs or 10 good T trips. Knowing the T, I'm betting on the blogs...

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[info]gemini6ice
2007-02-13 10:17 pm UTC (link)
You were the scoop in the metro recently! COngrats!

But if you legitimately cannot afford the T (for reasons such as being homeless), I was under the impression the MBTA must allow you to ride, because it is "public" transportation.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-13 10:19 pm UTC (link)
I'm assuming the Homeless Coalition will give it to someone who is in transition away from being homeless. But really, it's up to them now.

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[info]eeka13
2007-02-13 11:11 pm UTC (link)
Yep, there's actually a federal law that as a matter of public safety and whatnot, they're supposed to let people ride when they politely explain that they don't have money and need to get to an appointment or back home or whatever. Someone who's more of a public policy person might know the specific law (I'm mental health, so I just know enough for in-the-moment advocacy).

In reality, transit operators are more discriminatory toward people of the demographics it's supposed to help. I've gotten onto public transporation for free twice. Both times I politely explained why I didn't have my wallet or whatever. Both times I was lucky enough to be dressed in appropriate white-middle-class-professional attire at that moment.

A former client of mine who lived a couple of miles from her school and took the T there ran into a situation in which her mother was refusing to give her money to take the T to school. DSS eventually intervened, but in the meantime, I told her to politely explain to the driver that she had no money and needed to get to school. This is a kid who I've observed making clear and polite requests and completely trust that she did so. She told me that multiple drivers told her she couldn't get on, and she went back home and missed school. I tried taking this up with the T, but all I got was the "right to refuse service to anyone the operator deems whatever" crap. In other words, drivers are free to choose not to trust teenagers by virtue of them being teenagers.

Similar things have happened with a couple of clients who have persistent psych disabilities (and present as such) when they've called and been stuck out of town without money after someone dropped them off and left or something, and we've told them to explain their situation to the T operator. The operators tell them they can't get on without paying. It ends up costing the state a lot more than $1.70 when it gets dark, they're still stuck, they flip out, and the ambulance or cop car brings them back to town.

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[info]pushupstairs
2007-02-13 10:30 pm UTC (link)
they really need to provide a way to transfer value from a Ticket to a Card without having to stand in line at that fucking office.

IF THEY DON'T THEY'RE JERKS

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-13 10:37 pm UTC (link)
I agree. Either it should be a function of the vending machines, or there should be a mail-in method.

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[info]paperface
2007-02-13 10:45 pm UTC (link)
word. i know that when the cards came out, one of the first things i did was try to put ticket value on my card using the vending machines. on account of i assumed it would be a pretty trivial thing to implement.

they really want to keep that thirty cent surcharge, i guess.

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[info]agharta75
2007-02-14 12:12 am UTC (link)
I suspect, after Ron's visit, the people on duty that day, at least, will see the need. And maybe management, if the press happened to be there. (The press _was_ there, right, Ron?)

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-14 12:15 am UTC (link)
no, sorry, there was no press. I didn't decide until that day to do it that day.

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[info]hey_thmooley
2007-02-13 10:34 pm UTC (link)
That's really great of you to donate it. I'm sure it took more than a little time to collect all those.

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[info]eeka13
2007-02-13 10:44 pm UTC (link)

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-13 10:58 pm UTC (link)
eeka, you are my hero!

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[info]eeka13
2007-02-13 10:59 pm UTC (link)
Just wait til you get famous.

I'm in ur cowbell, cowbellin ur...uh what

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-13 11:04 pm UTC (link)
you could make up something about midgets.

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[info]eeka13
2007-02-13 11:12 pm UTC (link)
im in ur cowbell charliein ur midget

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-13 11:19 pm UTC (link)
ohhh...sexy.

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[info]ericjay
2007-02-13 11:18 pm UTC (link)
Oh, that's SO great! =)

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[info]ttelracs
2007-02-13 11:50 pm UTC (link)
Fabulous.

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[info]ohwownerd
2007-02-14 02:10 am UTC (link)
Look at him hold those cards like a pimp.

"Ye' my bitches trick enough, check the charlie tickets, fool."

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[info]sissychrissy1
2007-02-14 03:44 am UTC (link)
Ron Newman, holla back!

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[info]missing_thewar
2007-02-14 04:42 am UTC (link)
this is amazing. [info]ron_newman for the win!

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[info]kimmercake
2007-02-14 01:44 pm UTC (link)
OMG. that is fucking awesome.

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[info]fibro_witch
2007-02-13 10:47 pm UTC (link)
I think your a hero. I would have been selfish and kept the card for my self.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-13 10:51 pm UTC (link)
I get a pass every month, so $68 of stored value isn't much good to me. Besides, it's not really my money, so keeping it would be bad karma.

I started doing this mostly to demonstrate and publicize how people were leaving behind so much stored value. I'm hoping the resulting publicity will reduce this waste and possibly induce the T to make some change to their vending-machine programming.

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-13 11:00 pm UTC (link)
If everyone did the same thing (collected charlie tickets and took them to downtown crossing to have them put on 1 charlie card) I'm sure the MBTA would somehow make it easier to place value on a ticket.

If we had several Ron Newman clones, we could make the world a better place! (left wing politics aside, that we will disagree on).

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[info]lizzielizzie
2007-02-13 11:21 pm UTC (link)
Maybe we should have a "clean sweep" day/week, where we have b0st0n members fan out across all T stations and collect all the discarded Charlie tickets they can find, which we later bring to Downtown Crossing and put on several Charlie cards that can then be donated.

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-13 11:27 pm UTC (link)
but we would have to all show up at downtown crossing at the same time...really shut them down from doing anything else there.

Hey, I like this idea....I should have thought of it!

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[info]agharta75
2007-02-14 01:55 am UTC (link)
And sing "Charlie on the MTA" while waiting in line.

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[info]ohwownerd
2007-02-14 02:12 am UTC (link)
This is now the official formula for "Getting stabbed by an MBTA drone."

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[info]mperrotti76
2007-02-14 02:24 am UTC (link)
That's the 2ns b0st0n flash mob idea of the day. Anomie, you mgiht be my new hero. Well after freegin' ron newman of course.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-14 12:16 am UTC (link)
I like that idea a lot.

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[info]mperrotti76
2007-02-14 02:25 am UTC (link)
I'd be in. That sounds fun and rewarding.

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[info]fantastic_salad
2007-02-14 02:57 am UTC (link)
standing in line for a long time is always fun and rewarding

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[info]anomie666
2007-02-14 04:08 am UTC (link)
fuck ya dude....keepin it real. We kick that shit old school.

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[info]djdig
2007-02-15 06:53 pm UTC (link)
I'd be in too. I also have a monthly pass but think it's a shame all this money is being wasted.

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[info]sexyblueduck
2007-02-14 12:20 am UTC (link)
Ron, you never cease to amazing me. Good work bro.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-14 12:26 am UTC (link)
A short guide to finding discarded tickets with value:

- If the ticket says "ADULT Stored Value" in big letters, it was bought in 2006 or even 2005, before the fare increase. These very likely have value remaining. For instance, if someone bought a $5 ticket and took three $1.25 subway rides last year, the ticket still has $1.25 on it. If he took one $1.25 ride last year and one $2.00 ride this year, it still has $1.75 on it.

- If the ticket's initial value was $5, it is likely to still have $1 on it, after being used for two $2 subway rides. Unfortunately, the fare machines make it very easy to buy a $5 ticket.

- If the ticket was bought with an initial value less than $2, or for a strange amount like $3.40, the buyer probably didn't understand the fare system properly and left some or all of the value unused.

- If the initial value was exactly $2, it isn't worth looking at because it was probably used for a single subway ride.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]plumtreeblossom
2007-02-14 01:01 am UTC (link)
What a happy ending...or beginning! May the sweeps proposed above come to pass! You did good, Ron. :-)

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[info]kimmercake
2007-02-14 01:47 pm UTC (link)
what a model citizen you are! i think this whole experiment is really cool. this isn't some my name is earl karmic good deed reciprocated thing, is it? jk.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-14 02:02 pm UTC (link)
Originally, I just wanted to find out if this blog post was correct. The first few such tickets I found, I just gave to friends or strangers.

After a while, I realized that I was accumulating a significant amount of stored value that I had no personal use for, and didn't really belong to me. By the time the Metro reporter contacted me, I had decided to give it to some charity. Kevin Vahey from the CharlieOnTheMBTA blog suggested the Somerville Homeless Coalition, which happens to be a short walk from where I live in Davis Square.

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[info]sutel
2007-02-14 03:41 pm UTC (link)
hey, is your email in your profile the best one to contact you at? I'm doing a project on the T for school & your story sounds perfect.

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[info]ron_newman
2007-02-14 03:45 pm UTC (link)
Yep, e-mail me anytime. What school?

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[info]delahk
2007-02-15 06:05 am UTC (link)
you are awesome.

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[info]addambombb
2007-02-15 08:58 pm UTC (link)
very cool. mad props!

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