de·lu·sion: n., 1. The act or process of deluding. 2. The state of being deluded. 3. A false belief or opinion: labored under the delusion that success was at hand. 4. Psychiatry. A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness.

de·men·tia: n., 1. Deterioration of intellectual faculties, such as memory, concentration, and judgment, resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain. It is sometimes accompanied by emotional disturbance and personality changes. 2. Madness; insanity. See Synonyms at insanity.

For examples, see “Chex”’s comment here.

Now poor Chex is either (a) delusional and/or demented, or (b) employed by the MBTA’s online stealth-PR squad. You can usually tell the latter by their rosy outlook and lack of spelling skills (”turnstyle” is the tip-off here).

I mean, “La la la! Just be glad the Charlie machines/setup is just around the corner. La tee dah! Feed the machine a $10, ask for $2.50 fare, and get 7 dollar coins, 2 quarters, and a paper ticket for 2 rides. Loo la too doo! Roll it thru the turnstyle, and your done. Ta dah!”

What planet are YOU on? I gotta get me some of that crack you’re smoking, bro.

If the history of the MBTA is any indication, and it is, what automation will bring is a lot of broken-down machines and no one in the station to fix them and no one to turn to at all, ever. Not even someone in India to listen to your bitchin’ and moanin’. No one. That’s why they call it an automated system. Because no one is accountable. No one cares. Because no one’s there.

Remember, the Charlie card is not exactly a ticket. It’s basically a debit card. The machines dispensing the cards may initially be equipped with change, but that won’t last. The idea is that whatever you stick in gets added to the card. Period. You hang onto the card, and keep adding your fare. Will it add up in the end? Probably not. There’ll be nickles and dimes left over. Consider it a charitable donation to the Danny Grabauskas Retirement Fund!

The MBTA has stated that one of the goals of the Charlie card is to increase the number of riders who purchase prepaid monthly passes from the current 55% to 80%. And they will accomplish this using the aforementioned “reverse reward” system to discourage riders from purchasing one-trip tickets. Meaning, when you try to purchase a single-trip ticket from a Charlie machine, you will be reverse-rewarded with NO CHANGE. You will stand there for a minute feeling alone and dejected. Then you will scratch your head and say to yourself, hmm, maybe I should just get a Charlie card and load it up.

The limitless debit card is actually an improvement over the current system for people who like to have a pass for convenience’s sake, but don’t use the system as often as those who carry a monthly pass. But a simple debit system would work to the disadvantage of those who use the T more often and get a break by purchasing their monthly pass with unlimited rides. Hopefully this monthly pass, which, if you use it every day, amounts to a reduced fare, won’t be phased out the next time the MBTA feels the need to “think outside the box”. That’s how Danny Grabauskas characterized the bright idea of raising fares to $1.55. He said raising fares was “thinking outside the box”.

So, to “Chex” and his candy-ass rose-colored glasses-wearing pollyanna posse: take your Zyprexa. Come on back down to earth before you hurt yourself.

Poor Pollyanna! Hate to say I told ya so.