If you have legal tender, but not the exact fare then the
machine won't issue a ticket. Can you board a train anyway?
For instance, to get home last weekend, the fare was $9
and I turned up at the station late on a Sunday night
with a $10 note and a few coins. Since there was nothing at
all open within cooee of the station I got the train anyway-
but would they have fined my $100 because they couln't give
$1 change?
Cheers,
David Richardson
Mike Alexander wrote:
>
> > This raises an interesting point. Under Federal law if it was human
> > selling tickets and I offered a $5 note for a $2 ride, they would be
> > legally bound to accept the $5 note tendered and give me change. They
> > could not reject the tendering of the note as unsuitable for the
> > payment.
> >
> > I wonder what position that would put a transport operator in if they
> > tried to prosecute a passenger who did not have a ticket but did have
> > the price of their fare on them in legal tender in the form of a small
> > denomination note, which the ticket issuing device was incapable of
> > accepting?
>
> Whatever the legality of it may be, I'm sure anyone who operates a parking
> meter must have it covered. So. I'm sure the same law applies.
>
> BTW, what _exactly_ is the federal law which covers this? How is it worded?
>
> Also, even if it was a human selling the tickets, and they refused to
> accept your $100 note as payment for an 80 cent ticket (as would no doubt
> happen), what would be the legality then?
>
> There has to be some sense of reasonableness.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Alexander
> (malex@bigfoot.com)