First Offence

Attention to fare evaders, boarding without a ticket is risking a fine of no less than $154. Metlink, Melbourne's tram and train network, is getting more vigilant in tackling the number one cause of revenue leakage - fare evasion. Revenue losses to fare evasion alone is estimated to be around $50-$60 million. Now, ticket inspection have been more regular, and you'd think that this would have thwarted many offenders... but no. Still a lot of people take this risk because although regular, it is really not at all times that these ticket inspectors roam around checking for your ticket. There will be times when in a week, I've only had my ticket checked once. And a couple of times I've seen passengers scurrying to buy a ticket or try to get off the stop when those feared men in light green shirts, notepad and pens in hand, approach the tram. I've been witness to people being caught and pathetically making excuses as to why they don't have a ticket, some plead, some have an outburst of temper. These do not help, they will still be slapped with a big, fat fine. Trying to save $3.20 and ending up paying fifty times more. It'll be hard to break even after that eh?... unless you get to dodge inspectors again for another 50 trips. Now, that's a plan that has backfired.

Personally, I feel no sympathy for those who are caught. My view is, if you're gutsy enough to try, then you better have the balls (or the moolah) to face the consequence. Until one day... last Wednesday, I was travelling to work, still groggy with a bit of a headache from the past few days' stress and lack of sleep. Per usual, I try to rest my eyes for the whole trip, when after a few stops my quiet snooze was broken by a couple of inspectors asking to check people's tickets. Standard procedure, no biggie, and when it was my turn I reached for the wallet in my bag, and to my horror realised that I did not have it with me! Not even the small coin purse I keep with me that sometimes has an extra metcard ticket in it. Fished through, fished through, again and again, while the inspector was waiting. I suppose there was nothing I could do, I couldn't produce something that is not there. I wanted to melt and disappear from where I was seated. Just like in the movies, the camera zoomed to me frantically searching for my ticket, as the background and voices of other people faded into my own melodrama. Flashes of images came to my mind, I was trying to recall how I could have left my wallet at home. In a haste that morning, I just grabbed my bag and left without checking. Explaining to the men that I have a ticket, the only problem is that I left everything at home... it was a monthly ticket which I paid a friggin' $98.90 for, and I have a couple of weekly ones, daily ones, 2-hour ones, you name 'em I've got 'em. How can I be a fare evader? It was a simple act of carelessness that I wasn't carrying them with me at that moment. Nevertheless, to them it was no excuse, I was travelling without a valid ticket... and I didn't even have a single cent in me at that time to purchase another one right there on the tram because hey I left my wallet remember? What a humiliating moment that was, and an extremely infuriating one as well. The inspectors had to get my name and my address where they'd mail the infringement notice to. It was only after the incident that I realised they haven't really asked me for any form of identification (well, if they did I wouldn't be able to produce any as everything was in the wallet), and I gave them the real everything... real name, real address... holy cow!!!!!... silly silly silly! I could have given a fake name, a fake address and they wouldn't have checked. They didn't this time. Now I wonder, if and when I receive the infringement notice, I could easily contest it and say that there was no way it could have been me, and they wouldn't have a proof as there's no ID number or anything on their slip. Someone could have set me up right? We will wait and see.

There goes the Wednesday. Thank God it was 3 days before the weekend. If it had happened on a Monday, I would have thrown a fit! Ha ha ha. The moral of this story: guard your metcards with your life. I don't care for the fine I'd have to pay per se (as A would say, anything that can be solved by money is a trivial matter not worth cracking your skull for), but it is the fact that I do pay for my fares and yet got caught unaware, written a fine, and at one moment labeled as a fare evader, that annoys me. Well... my bad.