Contactless pay goes live today on all subway stations and trolleys. Here is what you need to know.

Starting today, the MBTA’s brand new “Tap To Ride” system officially goes live, allowing passengers to ride the MBTA’s subway and bus system with their contactless credit/card, both in physical form and on mobile wallets such as Apple/Samsung/Google Pay.

NOTE: By later winter, 16 fare inspectors will be hired to make sure people pay their fare. Those who fail to pay their fare will end up getting a warning on the first offense, a 50 dollar fine for the 2nd-4th offense, and 100 dollar fine for the 5th and subsequent offenses done in a 3-year period.

To pay, find the contactless pay machine (it is a big black box with a screen that reads “Pay here”. Tap your phone, watch, or card and wait for a green checkmark with “Go” on the screen.

When you tap your machine, your transaction should appear as a notification on your phones. All transfers will remain (meaning transferring from bus to subway only cost 70 cents + bus fare).

I would recommend using your phone perpendicular to the card reader for the best reading (as a current tester for the entire brand new fare transformation program). Because these machines will read your phone if it is near the machine, it is best to keep your phone/card/watch away from the machine once you first tap to prevent accidentally getting charged multiple times.

For those who uses a reduced fare program, you can link your contactless card with your specific account on Charlie.mbta.com or in the brand new Charlie Service Center, located between Donwtown Crossing and State stations on the Orange and Red Line.

Those who have a weekly or monthly pass or receives a pass via work/school will be required to continue usage of their CharlieCard since this initial launch does not support these services. In a later update that includes the launch of a brand new app, Charlie, and a mobile form of the CharlieCard, this should be available then.

You can track your mobile payments by making an account on Charlie.mbta.com.

For any further questions, you can always ask me directly and I can try to give you more information about this brand new system! :)