Ticket inspector mayhem
The antics of ticket inspectors has once again shown up in the media (see The Age which even has video footage), this week. While, if you choose to travel without a valid ticket you should expect to get some sort of fine, I’ve long been unimpressed with the way that the State Government and operators handle this aspect of the public transport system.
Well you consider factors such as the relatively small offence involved, yet the unproportionally high fine to be occured (much higher than parking fines), it’s no wonder that these matters escalate out of hand. Before too long we have a passenger being pinned down to the ground for not paying a $1.80 fare.
Not to mention that we didn’t have any of these problems when we had tram conductors and adequate staffing of the public transport system. Hide and seek ticket inspections will just lead to continually high fare evasion and more of these embarrassing situations for the operators and the State Government.
Although I always travel with a valid ticket, my own encounter with ticket inspectors has also been less than pleasing. You often see them standing in a row like soldiers waiting to attack outside stations such as Melbourne Central, Flinders Street and Box Hill. The other day a ticket inspector decided to study for my concession card with no other purpose than to deliberately hold me up. Not to mention that they remind me of those agents out of the Matrix, waiting for you in their grey suits.
If only they’d bring back the friendly staff.
September 16th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Yeah, airports are even worse. They wouldn’t even let me take a tiny little spanner on board- what am I gonna do with that? Unbolt the entire aircraft piece by piece? Sheesh…
They let me take it there, but not on the way back… inconsistant as well as facist…
September 16th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
Heh, Sydney isn’t any better. I got an interrogation when I left my wallet home for a day… you know, in case the lack of a wallet wasn’t bad enough, they had to get on my back about the lack of a ticket.
Their efficiency isn’t good, either… you often see someone run through a gate on someone else’s ticket, and they don’t seem to care about that.
September 17th, 2005 at 12:33 am
To think the Victorian government is going to implement a new system to replace the current fare system for public transport. Some kind of ‘Smart’ card… Looks like a new opportunity for those polititians to bugger up something else, not to say that the current system is perfect.
Any numbskull will tell ya; “People don’t like change!” when will the gov cotton on?
September 17th, 2005 at 1:01 am
My biggest complaint is that they stand in train doorways talking amongst themselves ignorant towards people wanting to get on and off. Otherwise they seem to go about their job in a courteous and professional way.
September 17th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
it may not seem like not paying a fare is much but you have to remember.. while public transport is named such its not a govt org anymore..
(atleast not in melbourne)
if you dont pay a fare you ARE stealing.
September 17th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
Yes Chris, the smartcards are just another waste of money that could well and truely fund staffing the system with change left over at the end of it’s 10 year lifespan (at a cost of about $500 million or more). Not to mention that the cost of fare evasion is said to be around $50 million a year. If the money were put into staff it’d eliminate fare evasion and we’d come off ahead of where we are. The accountants who worked out that sacking tram conductors would save money messed up big time.
As for the “fare evasion is stealing line”. Daemo, I don’t think taxpayers would appreciate it anymore than shareholders. I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t buy tickets. I’m just suggesting that this kind of behaviour from ticket inspectors in itself is criminal.
On the topic, here are some rather absurd comments that appeared in the Herald Sun the other day (15th Sept):
Tesse Hoekspra, 20, said she asked a female inspector to stop twisting the man’s wrist but was told “you will be next on the ground if you’re not careful”.
Mr [Colin] Tyrus [spokesman for Yarra Trams] said threats to Ms Hoekspra made by the female inspector were also justified.
“When people try to interfere with the lawful conduct of authorised officers conducting their duties, that interference can result in their arrest,” he said.
September 17th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
The most effective way of reducing fare evasion is to return staff to rail stations and to trams, with either conductors on trams are at major stops.
A visible staff presence will will minimise fare evasion, of course should someone jump the barriers then staff must do more than just simply stand there.
Not only does a staff presence increase safety but it also allows passengers the ability to ask public transport related questions - such as the best way to get from A to B.
A more friendly public transport system will benefit everyone - staff and passengers alike and will be mostly revenue neutral.
Alex
September 22nd, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Conductors would be lovely - but would YOU want to be the one poor bastard on Smith Street, Collingwood at 10pm on a Friday night trying to convince drunken lunatics and drug addicts to buy a ticket while you’re carrying a bag with hundreds of dollars in it?
I sure as shit wouldn’t.
September 22nd, 2005 at 8:07 pm
Picture this, a perfect world where all the stations are made utilising the current ticketing system. You don’t have a ticket, and then see the train arriving into the platform and you run right past the manned booking office and onto the train.
You do realise that inspectors will always still be there on the train or waiting at a station exit/entrance on that particular day you don’t have a ticket. They’ve always been around in some shape or form even with manned stations.
September 22nd, 2005 at 9:42 pm
Once upon a time there must have been conductors on Smith Street and similar such routes. What happened then? I can’t see how it’d be any better with ticket inspectors either, except that there would be three of them and they’re not carrying cash. Though since they’re out to issue fines, they’d probably stir up the drunkards even more.
As for running past the booking office, I don’t recall that people ran straight past station staff who were checking tickets. Perhaps a very small number would but you’d have barriers at major stations like there used to be at Flinders Street so no one would expect to sneak past.
June 3rd, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Why is it that during most peak hours you never see ticket inspectors around? Could it be because they do not like to board crowded trains and trams??
Neither do we, and why should we have to pay for a ticket when we can’t sit down for a long journey?
Have trains and trams every 5 minutes…..especially on the weekends when I’ve found myself at a train station waiting for 30-40 minutes for the next one to arrive.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Well I think you’ll find that that it’s a bit impractical to perform hide and seek ticket inspections on crowded trains and trams. Firstly because unlike tram conductors where you only had one person to squeeze through the crowds, but instead you have at least three. But also it wouldn’t be too safe because if the crowd felt any apprehension towards the ticket inspectors well there’s no way they’d get out of it. Clearly there’s no substitute for staffing the system properly.
As for the frequencies I agree that they are hopelessly inadequate. The absolute bare minimum frequency where public transport starts to get decent patronage is every 15 minutes. Though people with a car available mostly won’t consider using it unless frequencies are at least 10 minutes. Of course with either of these frequencies though, it’s harder to co-ordinate connecting services and a fair bit of planning work has to go into it. If you can get it down to 5 minutes then no extra work has to go into co-ordination.
June 24th, 2007 at 2:01 am
ALL Public Transport Authorised Officers (Ticket Inspectors) are doing a great job, keep up the good work.
July 16th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
my son had to deliver a car to a caryard and had a $20 note for cab fare home,someone at the car yard asked him if he wanted a lift to the nearest tram stop,so he agreed and before he realised he didn’t have coins for the tram fare, the doors shut and the inspectors were on board,resulting in a $158.00 fine.
Did he have any options here? or does he just have to wear the fine? He had the money to pay just not in the right configuration.
Oh, how I miss conductors
July 16th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Re the above post
The Smart Card was in the news today,saying it should be introduced over the next 12 months- it would maybe solve the problem of not having coins for a fare if you had $10 on a card and in your wallet
July 16th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Although I don’t know much about the situation other than what you describe and I’m not a lawyer, I’d suggest that he disputes the fine rather than paying it straight out. The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has some guidelines on how to do this:
If writing a letter doesn’t help, then do write to the Director of Public Transport, then failing that, take it to the Victorian Ombudsman, as more often than not bureaucrats are just there to fob you off. That said, my sister was successful in having a fine reversed purely by writing just one letter.
As for the the new ticketing system, clearly that will only help if you happen to have a smart card with you. It won’t be much use to irregular users. It certainly won’t help fare evasion at all because the only way to check such tickets will be with an electronic reader. It’s anyone’s guess as to how quickly the batteries would run flat.
March 5th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Yesterday I had to travel east along Finders Street to the end of Wellington Parade. Running late, I jumped on a Tram. I purchased a City Saver ticket and validated it. When it turned right at Exhibition street, I had to jump off and run back up to flinders street, get another tram and continue on. Another tram stop into my journey, a number of Inspectors climbed aboard and annpunced they were Ticket Inspectors with Yarra Trams and asked to see tickets. I of course couldn’t find my ticket and panicking that my stop was coming up, asked if we could get off and continue the discussion at the next stop. After getting off and being asked to produce a valid ticket or “document” who i was, I realised that there were 5 people standing around me at the tram stop. I originally thought some of them were passengers waiting for the next tram. After searching through my wallet where I put my ticket for safe keeping, I was unable to produce a valid ticket. I explained that I had changed trams and I must have lost it. Naturally they were not interested. I explained that I was late for my meeting and offered a business card to the inspector and askied him to call me later on so we could resolve the matter. This was refused. Things started to rapidly get out of hand from that point. I noticed that one of them a wioman, was on the mobile explaining what was happening to someone, presumably backup. I told them thay were being unreasonable, their lack of flexabiity annoyed me. Eventually the inspector said that all he was after was some proof of who I was and to show him a drivers license or some form of identification. I again asked him if we could sort this out somehow later as I had a client meeting that I was now well and truly late for. I went to take a step to move around him and and two of them screamed out “You are under arrest”! and with that, grabbed my arms, was right in my face threatening me and twisted me around shoving me backwards so forcibly that I nearly fell over. I resisted so I could stay upright and told them what I thought of their actions. I have never been so humiliated on my life, all over a $1.80 ticket that I could not produce.
During my ordeal at the hands of 5 of these inspectors (2 of them thugs) I discovered that there used to be approx 400 tram conductors before they were phased out. Interestingly there are now over 200 Ticket Inspectors on the payroll. I’ll bet that the Ticket inspectors are paid a lot more money that the poor old conductirs were, and the inspectors travel in packs of 4 or 5 at a time harrassing people over a $1.80 fare! Where is the sense in that.
I used to think that the lowest job in the world was working as a parking inspector, I think we have hit new lows with ticket inspectors on our public transport.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:14 am
What do you think will happen if you fill up petrol at a petrol station, and claim that you do not have the money to pay for the petrol and insist to drive off?
July 10th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Don’t buy tickets! Public transport should be free! How can we justify not making PT a free service with all the environmental worries that we have?
I don’t buy tickets on principle.
And don’t say I’m stealing - no, Connex is stealing from our grandchildren - stealing their healthy environment, their good lives…
It’s just plain un-Australian to buy a ticket anyway.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:35 am
While I understand that tram ticket inspectors are “just doing their job” and that they are a necessary presence in Melbourne trams, specifically, where the system relies upon the honesty of passengers (if you are a regular tram passenger its not that hard to remember to get some change) what I object to is the manner and style adopted by many inspectors, who travel in packs, which are intimidating and authoritarian. It is as though they think they are the police and may accordingly adopt the demeanour that goes with that job. There is a real “us and them” mentality, so that one feels - even safe in the knowledge that you have a valid ticket to offer up to inspection - nervous, anxious, dare I say, even fearful. In fairness, some of the hostility that they exude may be in part due to the hostility that passengers project towards them. They are, as I said earlier “just doing their job”. Which is why they travel in groups, for their own safety (”in numbers”) and reassurance.
But what I really object to and find troublling is the apparent need for undercover tram inspectors, who seem to relish that moment when they fling open their bomber jacket/cardigan/jumper to reveal their “badge”, uttering the ominous demand: “can we see your tickets please?”
Why do they have to be “plains-clothed”, do they think they are under-cover policemen? They would argue that it is so that they can travel for several stops “blending in” with other passengers, and observe more efficiently those who get on and get off without validating/purchasing a ticket. The ends, however, - of catching out fare evaders - do not justify the means: the use of totalitarian, fascist, over-the-top scare tactics on their fellow citizens. And it is not clear, even, that more fare evaders are caught by undercover inspectors than by their - by comparison, more upfront - blue uniformed collegues. You can see them coming from a mile off, certainly, but if you have hopped on a tram without the appropriate change you are going to have to face the music just as surely with a uniformed inspector as you would with the plainclothed ones.
We are living with a democracy, but undercover tram conducters cultivate a mindset - both in passengers AND in themselves - which are more akin to totalitarian regimes in which one carries constantly the sense of being under surveillance. It produces fear and legitimises techniques which provoke fear and make them mundane. I’ve seen old ladies become terribly upset at the shock of some overzealous little prig of an undercover conducter demanding loudly out-of-the-blue: where’s your ticket?
Well, where’s your manners?
I think tram inspectors have a tough job to carry it, which needs to be done, and that they are often unfairly on the receiving end of hostility from loutish, lying fare-evaders. But get rid of the undercover tram inspectors, for all our sakes, theirs just as much as ours (the passengers).