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MBTA Pilots $10 Summer Weekend Commuter Rail Fare

A commuter rail train arrives at Back Bay Station. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
A commuter rail train arrives at Back Bay Station. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

The MBTA commuter rail plans to experiment with new weekend fares this summer, offering customers a $10 ticket to ride as much as they want Saturday and Sunday.

"This crisp $10 bill would be good for unlimited rides all weekend long," said Evan Rowe, the T's revenue chief, on Monday.

The commuter rail has excess capacity during the summer, especially on weekends, said Rowe, who said additional riders should boost fare revenues.

As MassLive reports:

Current weekend ridership estimates come in at 16,600 trips on Saturday and 9,000 trips on Sunday. That adds up to roughly five to 10 percent of weekday ridership.

The pilot program will be offered on weekends from June 9 until Sept. 2.

"There is plenty of capacity on our weekend trains," MBTA General Manager Luis Manuel Ramirez said in a statement, "and we’d be happy to fill those seats with families and others traveling in and out of Boston this summer."

Rowe said he hoped it would encourage people to view the service differently.

"It should be leisure rail," Rowe said.

The $10 fare will be available on the mTicket app, on trains, and at ticket windows at North, South and Back Bay stations. The fare will apply to riders ages 12 and above, and paying adults can bring two children under 12 for free.

The pilot program does not apply to the CapeFLYER, which is operated through a partnership with the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.

With reporting by State House News Service

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