BOSTON — Fare gates are coming to Boston’s three busiest commuter rail stations in an effort to improve fare collections.
Keolis Commuter Services, which operates the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s commuter trains, will install the gates at North Station, South Station, and the Back Bay station in 2020, the Boston Globe reports, with North Station likely to receive the gates first. Those three stations are where about 90 percent of all commuter trips begin or end.
A Keolis spokesman told the Globe the company is still determining how the gates would be placed, with an eye toward using the placement to manage crowds.
The addition of the gates — already used on MBTA subways — will mark a change for passengers used to dealing with ticketing once onboard their trains, and could be an obstacle for those rushing to catch trains at the last moment.
“People will have to slightly adjust their behavior,” Keolis spokesman Justin Thompson told the newspaper. “It certainly is a change, and we’re confident passengers will adapt. We hear from passengers all the time that fare collection is important to them.”
How do they know? Tickets collected (or claimed to be “collected”) vs. actual boarding counts which are done every so often. With the behavior of connections in Boston having to go through gates means a lot of close calls for time which can discourage passengers even with the best-laid plans. At all thee stations the fact that there are TWO ticket issuers may make gate operations “challenging”. Yes, it will affect railfanning; no more watching The Champion depart South Station for Florida at 1pm–but that was 1973! Never rode it–I was poor(er) and couldn’t “justify” the expense then so I never did the diner. One difficulty; substantial pedestrian flow from The Zoo (South Postal Annex I do business with sometimes) to South Station waiting room uses the platforms for several tracks. Makes one wonder exactly WHERE they plan to put these gates.
How do they know the honor system isn’t working?
Eric Schneider,
I highly doubt they’re changing anything to do with payment method or anything related to that, fare gates can and have been made to use with any media, including existing payment methods. The only difference for someone like you now is that you have to show up 5 – 10 minutes earlier to allow the time get through the fare gate, that’s the only difference.
Done that way in Britain which has more riders than we do
Manual ticketing is a relic of the past. It is still around as a means to maintain full employment now. If MTA does ok with it, MBTA can to.
I have no pity for those arriving at the last minute and expecting the train to wait for them. You know what time the train departs, get there.
Keolis has said it is best practice. London has steadily added gates over time, even with onboard checks.
There is no open access at North Station as it is. Tracks end right at the station wall and platform doors remained closed most of the time.
North Station currently discourages ques by not announcing the departure gates until boarding, 10 minutes before departure.
End of open access by railfans, that’s for sure
Ahhh. A new system to learn on the fly while traveling with my family, hauling luggage and car seats (since trains don’t go everywhere—even train travelers have to drive partway on most trips), learning what documentation or card or token or on board or platform based fare payment and verification system Boston chooses to use over other cities.
Plus, Boston North and South have relatively little space for lines to que—the open designs are best used moving lots of people quickly.
I used Boston North a lot when living in Maine and using the Downeaster. Packed platforms and concourse at times. And I was alone then!