How to get 17 rides for the price of 12

I recently started riding the commuter rail to work. I knew some nights I would be riding the T to meet my partner some place after work, so I decided to buy the 12-ride pass. Little did I know that it would be the most economical of the options.

I bought my first 12-ride pass on September 18th and just purchased my second 12-ride pass tonight. That one pass gave me 17 rides, plus (if they follow through with their guarantee) a refund ticket for the train being late one day.

How did I get 17 rides?

2 days no one asked for my pass.
1 day they punched between two spots. It didn't make an obvious hole in the card, so they ended up punching the spots on either side of that punch.
2 days the punch didn't go all the way through the card so it wasn't obvious that there had been a punch made.

From my zone, a 12-ride pass costs $54. A monthly pass costs $149. If I work 4 full weeks and ride the train to work and back every day, I'd need 40 rides. With the 12-ride pass, each ride costs $4.50. So, if I have to pay for every ride, 40 rides costs $180. That's $31 more than the monthly pass. To make up for that $31, I'll have to get 7 free rides each month. So far, I'm well on my way. And considering I'm likely to meet my partner once a month via the T, that's another 4 rides I won't be taking.

Maybe I was just lucky this month. We'll see. I keep tally marks on the back of my ticket to indicate the number of free rides I get. If it keeps working out to 2 or more free rides per card, I'll be breaking even with the monthly pass price.

Comments: 2

Heidi S. Oct 8, 2006, 12:37am EDT

I used to have the same thing happen to me on the Fitchburg train. I worked part time (3 days a week), so it just made more sense to buy the 12 ride, and more often than not, I got MANY more rides than the 12 I paid for, simply because they did not even check for a pass. I was told by a conductor that "they" are going to crack down on that one real soon.

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Shari V. Oct 8, 2006, 12:45am EDT

It'll be interesting to see what the "crack down" is like. The ticket takers haven't been putting up the little tickets on the back of your seat after they punch your ticket, so they don't know whose ticket they've checked and whose they haven't. Friday night I did an experiment. I was sitting at one of the table seats finishing up some work on the way home. When the ticket taker came through, I acted like I didn't notice him and kept on working. He walked right past me without asking me for my ticket. It seems, if you put out your ticket for them to see, they will gladly take it. But if you ignore them, they will go away. Odd!

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How to get 17 rides for the price of 12

Comments: 2

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