“It’s a positive step forward. Is it going to change the world? No. It should allow the MBTA to operate a little more efficiently,” Luberoff said.

And although a customer poll on the MBTA’s own website indicated that a majority of visitors thought the next station slated to accept CharlieTickets and CharlieCards would be South Station, Pesaturo said that, in fact, Wonderland, the north terminus of the Blue Line, is next in line for conversion to the new system.

“[We will] work our way into downtown until we have the whole Blue Line in the fall,” Pesaturo said.

The Red and Orange Lines will follow in a similar fashion, with the most distant stations being converted before more central ones.

For Harvard students hoping to use CharlieTickets and CharlieCards at the Square’s station along the Red Line, that means waiting until long after the summer is over. Conversion to the automated system will start with Alewife in the north, which is three stops beyond Harvard Square.

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.