Question about Violation Ticket

[TylerSVT]

Originally Posted by worth

So how much is a failure to produce valid fare violation?

I think its like 40 bucks.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by TylerSVT

I think its like 40 bucks.

Probably in 1997. Probably closer to $150 now.

[TSXCman]

i got this ticket in 2005 or so. rushing for the train after a game and just wanted to make the train instead of stopping to pay and miss it. it was in the 170-180$ range, ended up paying it because I did get caught trying to pull off a move.

if you can ever fight something or get it to disappear, why not try though? goodluck.

screw all the uppity people on this board that ALWAYS want to lecture you about paying your speeding tickets, etc

[Vansmack]

The ticket is for $150. I'm not arguing anything, just whether or not (due to the competence of the issuing officer) I have to pay. I always try to purchase a train ticket, the morning in question i was running late from a dentist appointment and didn't have change to purchase the ticket becuase i stupidly put it in park plus machine instead of paying with a credit card.

Thanks for those who had helpful responses. To the others, I honestly couldn't care less about your commets. Vigilante justice? are you kidding me? grow up.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Seriously?

Wow some people are hilarious. Good on the guy for not paying his fare. Why would he? when they only check you once in a blue moon?

If they don't want to hire enough people to check your ticket then that's their problem. They have no problem hiring people to drive a car around giving tickets so they can shove it.

Seriously?

It's okay to steal, as long as you dont get caught?

Thats messed up.

[IliketoPuck]

True story.

I did not pay for a train ticket two months ago when I got on in the free fare zone, and had to get off at the Saddledome. Cop at the top of the stairs says in an aussie accent, "hope you have your ticket mate, it's a $150.00 fine if you don't..." I came up with the, I threw it in the garbage on the platform excuse, went down to the platform, came up the handicapped ramp on the far side and walked right in to the dome.

The hell I am going to pay for a transit fare for going one stop outside of the zone, when I was paying at the time $5.50 a day both ways. Did I barely break the law? I suppose so. Was the cop smart enough to catch me? No.

If you can get around the ticket, all the power to you.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

The hell I am going to pay for a transit fare for going one stop outside of the zone, when I was paying at the time $5.50 a day both ways. Did I barely break the law? I suppose so. Was the cop smart enough to catch me? No.

I won't comment on your flagrant disregard for morals and authority but you bring up a good point about the Stampede station not being included in the free fare zone. The free fare zone is essentially a downtown shuttle so people can get cross-town easily. With so many events at Stampede Park, including conferences, sporting events, etc. it would be a logical extension of the free fare zone.

[amorak]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I won't comment on your flagrant disregard for morals and authority but you bring up a good point about the Stampede station not being included in the free fare zone. The free fare zone is essentially a downtown shuttle so people can get cross-town easily. With so many events at Stampede Park, including conferences, sporting events, etc. it would be a logical extension of the free fare zone.

As a tax payer, using the free fare zone without paying is ripping me off.

[TopChed]

I just don't get why the city makes it difficult to pay for a train ticket. Why don't machines give exact change? Why can't you pay with a debit/credit card? For people who don't ride transit often, the option is basically to have exact change. I usually don't. Maybe I'm alone, but I'd pay my fare a lot more often if it were easier.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by TopChed

I just don't get why the city makes it difficult to pay for a train ticket. Why don't machines give exact change? Why can't you pay with a debit/credit card? For people who don't ride transit often, the option is basically to have exact change. I usually don't. Maybe I'm alone, but I'd pay my fare a lot more often if it were easier.

I believe (and someone like Frinkprof or Thneed will confirm or deny), but they are going to be installing better machines, smart card payments, etc. eventually.

[merlin]

I understand why they want you to pay a fare for the Stampede Station but I cant understand why, if your attending a sporting event, they would make you pay a fare at all. As ticket holders we should get to ride transit for free. It would take alot of cars off the road. $13 for parking at the dome is terrible.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by merlin

I understand why they want you to pay a fare for the Stampede Station but I cant understand why, if your attending a sporting event, they would make you pay a fare at all. As ticket holders we should get to ride transit for free. It would take alot of cars off the road. $13 for parking at the dome is terrible.

I don't mind paying $2.75 for a trip from Crowfoot all the way to Stampede station, but the same fare to go from City Hall to Stampede is a bit much. In reality, I'd just walk from there anyway.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Seriously?

Wow some people are hilarious. Good on the guy for not paying his fare. Why would he? when they only check you once in a blue moon?

If they don't want to hire enough people to check your ticket then that's their problem. They have no problem hiring people to drive a car around giving tickets so they can shove it.

Theft is theft.

If you choose to use a service that has a user fee but decide that you don't want to pay that fee, you're stealing from the provider of that service. The City owns Calgary Transit, by extension, all taxpayers own Calgary Transit. Would you brag to a store owner about how much you like to shoplift from him because his security is so bad?

The OP doesn't show any remorse for his crime and doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse like "I always pay my fare, but it was -20 and the train pulled in just as I got to the station, and I knew I'd have to wait 15 minutes in -20 weather if I waited to get the ticket, so I decided to take the risk -- just this once". But, even if that was his excuse, he still would have done it knowing that the risk was there.

I assume the OP is someone who regularly rides the train and decides to not pay for the service, reasoning that with the frequency with which they check riders, over the course of a year you're likely to pay less in fines than you are in fares. I understand that logic, and accept it, but if that's the game you want to play, you sure as hell better pay the fine when you do finally get caught.

I'm sure I could walk into Walmart every day and shoplift something worth $5.50 and never get caught, and the loss of money would likely go unnoticed on their bottom line. It doesn't make it right, and I don't expect the owners of Walmart to accept that it's perfectly fine for me to do it.

A monthly bus pass is $90 (and you can claim the full amount for a Federal Tax Credit, so you get a good percentage of that back). So, if you ride the train every day for a year without paying, you're stealing $1080 worth of services from Calgary Transit. If 1000 people did that every day, it's a million dollars that has to made up somewhere else (sure, that's only an extra dollar per person, but it's the principle dammit).

Yes, my outrage is a little more exagerated here than my real feelings, but at the same time: Don't steal from me, then when you get caught, ask me for advice on how to get away with it.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by merlin

I understand why they want you to pay a fare for the Stampede Station but I cant understand why, if your attending a sporting event, they would make you pay a fare at all. As ticket holders we should get to ride transit for free. It would take alot of cars off the road. $13 for parking at the dome is terrible.

Actually what kills me is that if I take my kids to a hockey game it's almost cheaper and way more convenient to park at the Dome than take transit. That's a bit messed up.

The whole exact change thing is the stupidest thing ever as well. I lived in Toronto in 1985 and the subway machines could give change at that time or shortly thereafter. In this day and age I should be able to pay my transit fare with my smartphone, not have search through my console shrapnel for a bunch of quarters...

[valo403]

Originally Posted by getbak

Theft is theft.

If you choose to use a service that has a user fee but decide that you don't want to pay that fee, you're stealing from the provider of that service. The City owns Calgary Transit, by extension, all taxpayers own Calgary Transit. Would you brag to a store owner about how much you like to shoplift from him because his security is so bad?

The OP doesn't show any remorse for his crime and doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse like "I always pay my fare, but it was -20 and the train pulled in just as I got to the station, and I knew I'd have to wait 15 minutes in -20 weather if I waited to get the ticket, so I decided to take the risk -- just this once". But, even if that was his excuse, he still would have done it knowing that the risk was there.

I assume the OP is someone who regularly rides the train and decides to not pay for the service, reasoning that with the frequency with which they check riders, over the course of a year you're likely to pay less in fines than you are in fares. I understand that logic, and accept it, but if that's the game you want to play, you sure as hell better pay the fine when you do finally get caught.

I'm sure I could walk into Walmart every day and shoplift something worth $5.50 and never get caught, and the loss of money would likely go unnoticed on their bottom line. It doesn't make it right, and I don't expect the owners of Walmart to accept that it's perfectly fine for me to do it.

A monthly bus pass is $90 (and you can claim the full amount for a Federal Tax Credit, so you get a good percentage of that back). So, if you ride the train every day for a year without paying, you're stealing $1080 worth of services from Calgary Transit. If 1000 people did that every day, it's a million dollars that has to made up somewhere else (sure, that's only an extra dollar per person, but it's the principle dammit).

Yes, my outrage is a little more exagerated here than my real feelings, but at the same time: Don't steal from me, then when you get caught, ask me for advice on how to get away with it.

Why? If you can get out of it why not? The reasoning there is no different than the reasoning you accepted above.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

What if I walk into Wal-mart, grab an item for $5.50, head over to McDonalds and give that item to the employee there for them to return?

I actually have no point to make from this scenario. I just like to hear myself talk.

[gottabekd]

Originally Posted by TopChed

I just don't get why the city makes it difficult to pay for a train ticket. Why don't machines give exact change? Why can't you pay with a debit/credit card? For people who don't ride transit often, the option is basically to have exact change. I usually don't. Maybe I'm alone, but I'd pay my fare a lot more often if it were easier.

I agree that it is difficult to come up with exact change on the spot. That's why I carry around a few transit tickets in my wallet. Thankfully transit ticket booklets are sold in 100s of locations in the city.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by valo403

Why? If you can get out of it why not? The reasoning there is no different than the reasoning you accepted above.

When I say I accept the reasoning, I don't accept it as a valid reason to not pay, but can accept that some people will follow that logic and say "I'll pay the fine when they catch me because it'll be cheaper than paying the fare every day". To me, if you're going to use that logic, you should then accept the fact that you're going to pay the fine when they catch you.

But, whatever. I won't change anyone's opinion about this. For some reason, this annoys me more than someone complaining about getting a speeding ticket.



I do have a question about this sort of ticket...Since it's on public transit, there is no requirement for you to have ID on you when you ride the train, and they can't search you to find out if you're carrying ID (and you may not even have any ID), so what's stopping you from saying "sorry, I don't have any ID on me, but here's my name and address..." and giving them a fake name and address, then walking away and tearing up the ticket?

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by getbak

I do have a question about this sort of ticket...Since it's on public transit, there is no requirement for you to have ID on you when you ride the train, and they can't search you to find out if you're carrying ID (and you may not even have any ID), so what's stopping you from saying "sorry, I don't have any ID on me, but here's my name and address..." and giving them a fake name and address, then walking away and tearing up the ticket?

haha no idea what the law is here, but saw a guy down in Melbourne try this. Officer was like oh no problem, but we are going to have to detain you until we confirm you identify. Out pops the wallet.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Seriously?

Wow some people are hilarious. Good on the guy for not paying his fare. Why would he? when they only check you once in a blue moon?

If they don't want to hire enough people to check your ticket then that's their problem. They have no problem hiring people to drive a car around giving tickets so they can shove it.

Hey. Where do you live and when will you not be home? I want come over and 'borrow' some things.