If you polled a full rush-hour train or bus across the MBTA system, odds are that at least one in four riders aboard would not have touched a CharlieCard in the past several months.  

It’s been a bit more than a year since the T rolled out the ability to tap a credit card or mobile wallet to get onto the core subway and bus systems, and the new system has quickly become popular with passengers.  

Through the first 12 months of the offering, the share of fares paid using the “contactless” system grew from less than 10 percent to more than 25 percent. That’s close to the same share as “stored value” taps, or when a rider puts a set dollar amount on a CharlieCard or CharlieTicket but does not buy a weekly or monthly pass. The remaining roughly 50 percent of trips involve those time-based passes or other options, such as T employees.  

So in other words, by late spring, just about as many riders were turning to Apple Pay, Google Wallet and credit cards as were loading up their trusty old CharlieCards with a set dollar amount.  

MBTA leaders and watchdogs alike are pleased with the uptake so far, describing it as a sign of success for an initiative meant to modernize the system and cater to an increasingly digital public.  

“The approach that [MBTA General Manager] Phil Eng and his team are taking is much more reality-based and designed to meet people where they are, not where the T would like them to be,” said Brian Kane, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents cities and towns who help fund the transit system. “The ability to use your phone or use a credit card is obviously ubiquitous in today’s society.”  

In August 2024, the first month with the new payment options live to all passengers, about 904,000 of the roughly 10.9 million taps on the MBTA came from so-called contactless sources such as mobile wallets.  Nearly 4.4 million taps that month involved what the T calls “stored value,” or a CharlieCard or CharlieTicket loaded with a set dollar amount rather than a weekly or monthly pass.  

Those two offerings have been on opposite trends since then. By July 2025, the most recent month with data available, about 3.17 million trips involved contactless taps, just a shade below the 3.26 million trips using stored value taps. 

T leaders think the added ease of payment has been one factor among several contributing to stronger fare collections. While the MBTA — like most other transit agencies around the country — continues to struggle with depleted ridership in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it hauled in $38 million more from fares in fiscal year 2025 than budget-writers forecast.