Re: Yarra Trams Article in Sunday Age

["Daniel Bowen" <dbowen@custard.REMOVE.net.au>]

"Railvic" <railvic@primus.com.au> wrote in message
3A767C1A.56F1BAC1@primus.com.au">news:3A767C1A.56F1BAC1@primus.com.au...
> Daniel Bowen wrote:
> > "Vaughan Williams" <ender2000@my-deja.com> wrote in message
> > 9546dg$mf$1@nnrp1.deja.com">news:9546dg$mf$1@nnrp1.deja.com...
> > > Simple. Because the system is set up making it hard to buy tickets and
> > > easy to fare-evade. If its the reverse (easy to buy tickets and
> > > relatively hard to evade) there should be a high level of voluntary
> > > compliance.
> >
> > As an example, compare the fare evasion levels of Melbourne's trams vs
> > buses.
>
> Perhaps we should have "A day with ticket inspector" sessions for
> interested public, then they get to see the sort of excuses people give
> when not having tickets.  Many are ignorant and no matter how many times
> you educate them how to use ticket machines (or purchase tickets through
> booking office windows at a manned station), they still seek "free
> rides" ...

Well that's another thing that annoys me. It is childishly easy to evade
fares on both trams and trains. For instance, I have seen:

- (train & tram) get off when the inspectors get on

- (train) city station barriers are open and often unstaffed at underground
stations outside peak hours

- (train) suburban stations with barriers always have one left open, and are
almost never staffed

- (train) jump over an unstaffed barrier

- (train) hold an unvalidated ticket. Claim you forgot to validate it. If
you're dressed neatly and smile a lot, you'll probably get away with it.

- (tram) hold an unvalidated ticket. Validate when the inspectors get on

>From my observations, inspectors are rare enough on the system that the
chances of getting caught are not high. And many people use the above
techniques when inspectors are around. Ticket inspectors don't need to
behave like Nazis, but they do need to be wise to these sorts of tricks.


Daniel
--
Daniel Bowen, Melbourne, Australia
dbowen@custard.REMOVE.net.au
Melbourne public transport FAQ http://www.custard.net.au/melbtrans/