Accuracy of Time/Date Stamp on a Metcard

[steam4me@enternet.com.au (Yuri J Sos/Melbourne AUS)]

A very fundamental question:   
Can you trust the time and date stamp on a Metcard?

Lawrence Money's "Spy" column in  the "Sunday Age" featured a short
article AND a photo of a Metcard purchased recently on a #8 tram.  The
expiry date of the Metcard was shown as sometime in 1979.  The article
said that the "host" immediately shut down the machine to prevent
further time travel<g!>.

What happens when there is no longer a host on the tram?  Who (and how
often) checks the accuracy of the time/date stamp produced by the
machine?

Be fun if you boarded a #8 tram, got off at Flinders Street and tried
to gain access to the platforms (sorry sir/madam, your ticket expired
19 years ago!).

Add another stuff-up to the list.

Yuri
--  

"The gene pool could use a little chlorine."