Morning Commute: Charlie Card

I appreciate that Boston has put in a great deal of effort to try and improve rider access/comfort/enjoyment on all forms of inner city transport. Despite the fact that the MBTA is a big money loser, they have purchased some new trains, upgraded stations and introduced and RFID/swipe card payment service to replace tokens. It is this last "improvement", the Charlie Card, I have a problem with.

I ride the bus to and from work everyday. On the Silver bus line, all but one stop (one which I never pass) are outdoors. None of these outdoor stops have Charlie Card recharging stations. So for bus riders who want the convenience of tap-and-go, refillable commuter passes, they have to go to some other station, out of their way, to buy a monthly pass. I thought that maybe the MBTA website would have a solution. They did, but it was worse.

I ordered my Charlie Card online, it came nearly one month later for the following month. Great, I have it. At the end of that month, I return to the website, assuming all the personal information I gave them the previous month would allow me to purchase a refill. Nope. I could order another Charlie Card (about as thick as a credit card) which would only let me buy the following month's pass. So, if on January 29th I went to the site to refill, I could only order a NEW March pass. Spectacular.

Why create a system of convenience, only to make it inconvenient to use? Only in Boston.
-------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry Wireless