I read the April 19 article on the MBTA’s new Charlie Card and am absolutely appalled that anybody would oppose it (“MBTA riders say Charlie Cards are an inconvenience,” p.3). There is no downside to switching systems. It doesn’t destroy jobs because the same people who sit in token booths will still be there to give directions or to help out when a train is delayed or rerouted. If anything, it saves lives because employees will no longer handle thousands of tokens that are the size of a nickel but worth $1.25.

As a New York City native, I remember the early 1990s when subway tokens were still used. It was a serious issue to switch to Metrocards because the current system was endangering the Metropolitan Transit Authority employees. Think about it, robbing a token booth is like robbing a bank except that it’s far easier. Token booths are open early and close late. Some stations operating 24 hours a day don’t have armed security. Tokens aren’t traceable like money is because they don’t have serial numbers, water marks or other security features. Why do you think token booth operators are behind three inches of bulletproof glass anyway? There were times when $5,000 was offered to anyone who aided in the capture of subway-booth thieves who committed murder during the robbery. This is half the reward 1-800-COP-SHOT offers for information leading to the arrest of criminals who murder police officers. Just let that thought sink in for a minute.

Now, such robberies will be senseless because money is only deposited on a card when it is purchased. Breaking open a vending machine will only give useless pieces of plastic.

If that’s not enough, which, in all honesty, should be enough, consider that you could purchase rides by credit card, something that isn’t possible now even though McDonald’s has been letting its customers pay with credit for years already. The new system will let the city build subway stations in locations that need public transportation access but whose demands are too low to justify a full running staff. Such locations exist in lower Manhattan. Does the student who complained that Charlie Cards “run out of money when you don’t expect them to,” realize that keeping track of your subway card balance involves the same life skills as keeping track of your checking account when you’re at the ATM or keeping track of how much you have left before reaching your credit limit. If you can’t do these things, maybe the MBTA is the least of your problems.

I realize that crime in Boston is nothing like crime in New York City and some of you may call me paranoid. Still, when another article in the same issue of The Daily Free Press discusses how the MBTA planned to be the first transportation outfit in the country to train employees to recognize acts of terrorism, I’m wholly reminded that preventive measures are often necessary.

Jonathan Chin CAS ’07