The MBTA Chooses Not to Rip Us Off


1199997669We’re not big fans of using ATMs in T stations. Not only does our train inevitably pull up as we’re in the middle of a transaction, but having some sketchy person trying to read our PIN over our shoulder makes us a little uncomfortable. Now we’ll have ample opportunity to have our identity stolen, as the MBTA has signed a contract to add cash machines to nine additional stations.

The agency’s contract with Citizen’s Bank expired, and the T has moved on.

Under the new contract, Select A Branch Inc. will run 10 machines, TD BankNorth will run eight, and Bank of America will run one.

Of course, we immediately got defensive when we read that. Select-A-Branch? What kind of no-name bank is that? Certainly we’ll get slapped with huge fees to use their machines, and then they’ll probably share the profits with the T. Just as we were firing up our email to tell the MBTA we were on to their little scheme, we did a little research and found that Select-A-Branch isn’t totally evil.

But the most direct benefit goes to cardholders of participant FI’s themselves, because they receive digitally branded and surcharge-free ATM transactions in more merchant locations than they’ve ever had access to before.

Oh. Well. There goes our conspiracy theory. Now if only they could get those weird people away from us while we enter our PIN we’ll be really happy.