Re: Trip to Melbourne

John Dennis (jdennis@acslink.net.au)
Mon, 09 Feb 1998 23:45:06 GMT

>>Related to this point, but off the topic of Melbourne,
>>what do you do in Sydney when a vending machine goes into
>>"exact far only" mode.
>>
>>If you have legal tender, but not the exact fare then the
>>machine won't issue a ticket. Can you board a train anyway?
>>
>Or even better, when they say - "Exact Fare Only - No Coins"!
>
>I had some correspondence with Cityrail on this point when the ticket
>machines first came out and never got any real answer.
>
>I think that the answer is yes, they will fine you - the government
>needs the money. However if you take it to court, they *may* back
>down to avoid the publicity.

If the machines (in either city) are in "Exact Fare" mode, do they
mean exactly what they say. For example, if I board a tram with a $2
coin and a 50c piece, only to find the machine is out of change, will
it still sell me a $2.20 ticket if I put in $2.50 - without any change
obviously - or will it only accept coins to the value of $2.20?

I had an interesting experience with a parking machine in Birmingham a
few years ago, the signage on which read "no change given". I
inserted the only coin I had, a one pound coin, for an 80-pence
ticket, and it would not issue the ticket. In this case "no change
given" meant "exact fare only".

Cheers...JD
==========================================================
John Dennis jdennis@acslink.net.au
Melbourne denjo02@cai.com
Australia http://www.acslink.net.au/~jdennis
Dutton Bay Tramway pages updated 1 January
DBT URL: http://www.acslink.net.au/~jdennis/dbt.html