Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Wants to End Cash Payments

"Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials want to eventually phase out using cash to pay on board its buses and trains, allowing riders to use their cellular phones, credit cards, and new CharlieCards instead," reports Nicole Dungca.

"The change would not take effect for at least two years and would need approval from the authority’s fiscal control board," adds Dungca. "But at Monday’s board meeting, MBTA officials said they plan to aggressively pursue a new fare-collection system that would be more user-friendly and speed up boarding times."

The article includes discussion fo the demographic concerns raised by the proposal (i.e., low-income riders are more likely to use cash), next steps in the planning process, and the example set by other transit systems in adopting similar technologies (e.g., Transport for London and the Chicago Transit Authority). According to Dungca, "[s]uch a fare-collection system would allow the T to easily charge different prices for different times of day, or for different distances traveled by a customer."