Charlie and the Cold Stone Creamery

If there’s one thing we don’t associate with the MBTA, it’s sweetness. In fact, most of our trips on the MBTA leave us with a sour taste in our mouths, stemming from either the inane behavior of our fellow Bostonians or the ineptitude of T employees. And, in an effort to improve relations, the powers that be at the T have resorted to bribing us with ice cream, like the petulant children we are.

Yes, really.

If your Evil Knievel-inspired bus ride weren’t enough to stop your heart, the concoction Cold Stone Creamery and the MBTA dreamed up certainly will. According to the sign we saw on an Orange Line train this morning (the ads were up to date, but the system map showed the E Line going to Arborway), the (T)errific Charlie blend consists of “Cake Batter ice cream mixed with Snickers, M&Ms and Kit Kat.”

The M&Ms make sense because they come in the colors of the MBTA’s color-coded system, but the rest of the ingredients have us confused. Cake batter ice cream? Is that because the T’s promises to bring train service to Somerville are half-baked at best? Snickers to really satisfy customers so they don’t call to complain about buses that never show up? Kit Kats? Give us a break.

Every state agency needs some good PR from time to time, but bribing frustrated commuters with ice cream is an unusual way to get some. If you flash your CharlieCard or CharlieTicket at Cold Stone, you can get a medium-or-larger (T)errific Charlie fix for a buck off. Hopefully the employees won’t break into a chorus of “Charlie on the MTA” if you tip them. And while rumors abound, there’s no word yet on whether Cold Stone plans to double the price of a (T)eriffic Charlie cone every two years, without doing anything to make it better.