In response to a recent report by The Boston Globe that some MBTA stations have come up short on CharlieCards, a MBTA spokesman said today that riders should not be concerned about the T running out of the reloadable plastic cards.
“We have minor temporary outages at certain stations, and we make sure that those stations are reloaded as quickly as possible. We always keep an eye on it,” said MBTA Director of Innovation Joshua Robin, adding, “Beyond that, we’ve done more than any other agency to distribute transit cards.”
Despite a public call on Twitter today, Metro was unable to track down any customers who are upset with an apparent lack of CharlieCards at MBTA stations.
When asked about the extent of “temporary outages,” Robin said, as an example, a busy weekend may cause a shortage at certain stations on a Monday. He estimated it would typically take “a day or so” before the station would be refueled with CharlieCards.
Over the last two years, Robin said, there have been roughly 7 million CharlieCards issued. Over the last month, Robin said the MBTA has received about 100,000 CharlieCards from its supplier.
“We’ve seen pretty phenomenal usage. I think we’ve done a great job,” he said.
