Re: Yarra Trams Article in Sunday Age

[Vaughan Williams <ender2000@my-deja.com>]

> We do not target young people.

You yourself might not, but RPO's (or whatever name is this week given
to those odious public relations nightmares we all know as ticket
inspectors) in general do. I've seen it many times, and had many more
complaints about it.

> RPO's no longer exist.....they had a name change and many went by the
> wayside including their methods. They are now called Customer Service
> Employees.

Yeah yeah, just relabelling something doesn't change what it is.

> We treat all people with respect....but don't think that if we
> approach you for whatever reason and we get a smartarse non accepting
> attitude we will smile and say okay forget it. We shall continue to
> be polite and do what is required of me to fulfill my role on the
> network.

Being a smartarse isn't an offence. Do you mean if you are asked to
show your identification and they then make a note of your details that
they have an attitude problem and are obviously in need of a few
bruises (it happens - i've seen the bruises)

> When we do checks we are required to stick to ceertain guidelines and
> if  person is not willing to comply with our lawful requests matters
tend to get
> dragged out from a 2 minute chat to possibly a 30 minute chat and in
> some cases longer if we cannot verify identification of the person.

It might be a worthwhile exercise for you to tell us what you
understand your powers to be.

> You can't tell me this people had every intention of getting one if
we were
> not present?

No, probably not, which is why vandals and fare evaders have to be very
unlucky to get caught by you.

> Alot of people get on the defensive upon our approaching them because
> they know they are doing the wrong thing, and thus things can worsen.
> Yes some officers attitudes can fray at times....doesn't yours?

A lot of people get defensive when you approach them because rightly or
wrongly (I'd say rightly) your people have an appalling reputation.

> Remember if the option to buy a ticket was present at the commencment
> of your journey this cancels out the option to buy one during or
> after your
> journey. So I DIDN"T HAVE TIME IS NOT A RESONABLE EXSCUSE.

Depends. If theres a long queue and you've allowed a reasonable time to
buy a ticket (5 minutes, perhaps) then I don't think its reasonable to
expect you to miss your train. Its the systems fault, not yours, that
the queues are so long. Its the systems fault, not yours, that the
machine isn't working (and if it won't sell me the ticket of my choice
with the payment method of my choice, then as far as i'm concerned it
isn't working).

> Refuse to give false name and address

Depends. There has to be a lawful request made, which requires a
reasonable belief theres been an offence. Theyre entitled to ask what
theyre supposed to have done, and to ask for your name and address too.
(Your address can be your work address)

> State false name and address
> Fail to produce evidence of entitlement (Concession)
> Make journey without valid ticket

No its not. Read the Act.

> As for those who think we are overbearing, aggressive etc...
> see if you could do our job.

Some are, some aren't.

> It takes all types to make a society, and it has been proven that
societys
> attitude and ideals have declined from what they were.
> I bet some of you would shit yourself if you came up against some of
the
> arseholes we do out there.

Yeah i'll concede some of them deserve it. What really annoys me is
those RPO's that go for the soft targets - the kids travelling alone -
and ignore the real menaces and obviously habitual fare evaders.

> We are trying to clean the system up for you, if we can cut fare
evasion
> maybe there wont be no ticket cost increases. Or it will be only
minimal.

Fares go up with CPI. Fare evasion is irrelevant to whether they do or
don't go up.

> If you get caught up in the net, chances are you were doing something
> wrong, actaully you were and guess what we have laws that we are
> governed by.

I've seen quite a number of inappropriate TIN's issued. One was when
Tony Morton, who I know always validates his ticket, had just gotten
on, sat down, and was dithering with his various bags to get his
ticket. The filth get on, and he gets fined.

Vaughan


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