With college students coming and going everywhere in Boston, the Charlie Card has become a necessity for many. Because the fare is cheaper than purchasing a regular Charlie Ticket, the card has always been popular. And now, the card is more than just a tool for riding the T. Promising “great service and deals,” it provides users with a number of bargains from the 2011 Charlie Card Discount Book.
The process of receiving the Charlie Card discounts is simple: anyone with the card can visit the MBTA website where a downloadable PDF of the discount book will be available.     The book contains over 48 pages of savings that apply to various businesses around Boston, catering to categories ranging from dining and entertainment to shopping and museums. Dick’s Last Resort and the Boston Aquarium are among popular places; valuable deals include free yoga class at Kundalini Yoga Boston, five dollars off of Huntington Theatre Co. tickets and 10 percent off at Ben and Jerry’s. In order to get the discounts, one can simply present a Charlie Card at a participating establishment.
However, with the large amount of businesses listed, it can be hard to keep track of all of the discounts offered. This is where Vidappe, a way of tracking down and receiving discounts, comes in handy. Vidappe is an app and online website that caters to not just the Charlie Card, but over 100 programs nationwide.These include, but are not limited to credit cards, food organizations, radio stations, entertainment companies, sports organizations, and city discounts.
“It’s actually pretty impressive; you download the app and subscribe to whatever one applies to you,” said Vidappe creator Star Li.
The app also offers a program for college and university discounts to anyone with a Student ID (at participating schools). “It’s a very convenient tool, there are so many schools in the app,” said Li.
According to the website, there are three steps to saving: subscribe to a program, receive real-time push notification alerts, and watch your savings grow. Once registered for a free account on the website, users may subscribe to programs. There is even has an option to filter the programs by zip code to see which ones apply to a local area. As well, users of the iPhone and Android can download their free app, which will send alerts once physically close to the local businesses that offer discounts.