I smoke marijuana irregularly every 2 – 3 weeks. If I’m caught with under 50g in Victoria I get up to two warnings before being fined ($200) with option to attend rehabilitation. On another note if I ride without a helmet on my bicycle, I will be fined $176.
What has this got to do with Metro, Metlink or PT Victoria? Our state public transport authority is now running a campaign to effectively stamp out fare evasion with an on-the-spot, no-warning fine of $207. Effectively it would be cheaper for me to ride around on with no helmet on my bike with a 50g brick of weed rather than try to fare evade or forget to touch on.
Public transport use leaves me with feelings of being in a dictatorship. Other North Korean like traits include: Metro no longer cites which services in particular are cancelled but only give you a general idea of what the situation is on your line (eg Green, Yellow or Red); the definition of ‘late’ has been twisted to allow Metro to skew its performance records; they have that voice-so-bubbly-you-want-to-piss-glass announcement about Myki (which was more expensive to put online than Mars Curiosity); the fare evader is shown as pure evil, like us Westerners must be in Pyongyang.
Possible solutions: State Government needs a shakedown; Metro needs to be mailed dictionaries; lines must be updated; start driving or riding more; organise mass protest by fare evading on a single day; burn city, start again.
UPDATE This article originally cited the fine for riding without a helmet in Victoria as $146, this was incorrect, it is $176. Luckily, this did not change the fiscal punitive imbalance.
SOURCES
Photo from Unsuck DC Metro http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/fail-rail.html
or, there’s tramsurance;
http://www.facebook.com/Tramsurance
Metlink absolutely kills me. It’s a business model masking itself as an effective and honorable government system that’s ‘for the people’. LIES! OKAY, to use a personal example:
Back in the day when I didn’t know how to use trains, I jumped aboard cradling my zone one metcard en-route to the burbs, unknowingly entering Zone Two (cue dramatic music). Exiting the train, I was met by transport inspectors to whom I presented my ticket. They informed me of my breach and I (in total honest shock) explained my situation. My kind inspector, mimicing that perky myki voice you’ve explained above, told me that he understood my situation and would just take down my details in case I were to use the same line in future, “I would most certainly NOT receive a fine.” Surprise, surprise one month late there’s an envelope on my doorstep demanding a whopping $170 COOL!!!! HEY, LET’S ALL SUPPORT A STATE GOVERNMENT SYSTEM THAT TELLS US BLATANT LIES!!!!
Ahem… While I’m on the subject of fines and David vs. Goliath rants here is case study number two:
Back in the day when I didn’t know how to reverse parallel park, I pulled into the space most appropriate for beginners. Turns out this space was a disabled space. Of course, I didn’t realise this (I’m not a bad human, I swear)…. The marking on the bitumen had in fact completely faded and the sign itself removed (I’m assuming by bored youths, what is it with youths and stealing street signs?)… SO, I got a fine… guess how much? Brace yourselves… 430 DOLLARS! Of course, given the situation I appealed the fine and went back to the site to take photographs to explain my ignorance. My appeal was not accepted and, due to the time it took to process and reject my appeal, the fine went up to 500 dollars. 500 dollars, pretty sure that’s more than I would have to pay had I actually rammed the parking inspector with my car and made him disabled.
Melody
What do you do if you are caught fare evading or in melody’s case is stall. Take your time to pull out your ID and state that you would also like to see theirs. After that pull out your phone and let them know that you have the right to record this conversation. State the time&date, station/ stop number and ask the transit officer to state their name/profession/ badge number and the reason that they pulled you up. This will take about 5-15 minutes depending on how much they will put up with. With this method I have yet to meet an inspector that will hang around long enough.
Really? Maybe I should try this. Back in the Metcard days I held onto my old ones and considered pulling them out one by one going ‘This one? No. This one? No.’ I’ve also heard accents work a treat, if you act like you don’t understand. And word is that if you are in ‘no state to understand the charge being pressed’ then you can dodge it, ie get drunk, ride a train.
There’s all those stickers labelling Victoria as the state to be fined and they’re probably right. This idea of fair our State Government has is seriously, well, not fair.
But $500? I’m sure I could of been ‘smoking’, carrying 50g and riding with no helmet and walked away. Note that Victoria Police aren’t to blame for that, rather councils (regarding your parking) and PTV, or the Tyrant Formerly Known As Metlink (for your ticket).
The police are more forgiving than people like transport police or parking inspectors who are given a thin veil of authority.
On another note, the whole system of monetary punishment is interesting in itself. I was having this disucssion with a friend the other day… We spoke about how the whole system of fines essentially widens the gap between rich and poor, and in a way rewards the rich.
punishment is measured by money but that’s not fair when for mr. money bags $170 doesn’t even dent the wallet, yet for others (i.e. the student) $170 is a massive blow. How then can the rich ever really feel truly ‘punished’ in the way the poor do? Maybe there needs to be a system implemented that measures the cost of a fine against income? Or maybe money is just a bad way to implement punishment full stop, perhaps community service is a fairer punishment?
Melody