Re: A Stunning example of the inbalance of the Rail Safety Act 1993 (NSW)

[Marvin The Martian <choochoo@spin.net.au>]

Buses were organized on this night but it takes more than 10 minutes. Do you
expect State Rail to foresee all problems? or do you expect them to have buses
at every station in case something happens. Buses were organized and if you had
waited you would have found out. As for the information this is one thing that
they could improve upon.
 I don't think there should be a service guarantee because there is many things
that could happen that could stop a service being provided.
 If you feel you were unfairly fined why did you plead guilty? Rules are rules
and you have to obey them, you can't choose to ignore them if you don't like
one. For example if I thought the speed limit on a road should be 80 instead of
60 and I did 80 I would still get fined.

Ivan Smith wrote:

> Ok,
>
> I've been done and pleaded guilty for "Fare Evasion" due to SRA staff stuff
> ups, insufficient staffing levels etc,,,
>
> In the course of defending this charge I had a chance to read the Act from
> start to end.
>
> One thing I noticed is that the Event Majeure and Double Jeopardy sections
> are unfair to consumers:
>
> Last evening the 17:26 out of Jannali to Cronulla turned up on time at
> Jannali.
>
> Without fair warning we were informed first by the guard that there had been
> a signal failure and the train would remain at Sutherland. Length of the
> delay unknown. Fair enough.
>
> Then the station announcement comes on and states that this train is
> terminating here. The guard gets on and says the same thing.
>
> I live at Cronulla which is miles away from Sutherland. So we all stood on
> the platform like stunned mullets (as usual) with no information, in the
> cold and dark, and after about 10 minutes of this, I and several others
> started to make for the exits, after realising the situation had
> deteriorated so badly in the communication up and down the line, that
> Sutherland Station had no idea, as usual, leaving us all pissed off and
> angry.
>
> What really pissed me off about this was that I had paid for me weekly at
> the start of the week, and I couldn't get the service I had recently been
> unfairly fined for.
>
> I walked from Sutherland to Miranda ($15 cab, $27 to Cronulla), as there
> were no Taxis, busses or offers from the SRA of alternate transport or
> reimbursement of alternate fare costs. All I could think of "where's my
> refund on my ticket, for a trip you  would gladly fine me for, $100, if I
> didn't have a valid ticket to travel?" - Failure to deliver a service, which
> is completely covered in the SRA's favour, in the Act.
>
> So my point is that the Rail Safety Act 1993 is stacked. It's stacked
> against the commuters and for the SRA. The clauses which pertain to last
> nights (all too common) situation are clearly letting the SRA off the hook
> with their obligation to service they must provide.
>
> What is the mechanism for a fare refund claim??
>
> If they can fine me for an innocent circumstantial incident according to
> their legislation, then there must be a mechanism for us to claim back off
> them. There isn't though because the Rail Safety Act 1993 is stacked against
> commuters in the most part.
>
> Ivan