Passenger Trains > Metra CEO on Fares not Collected

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-metra-fares-20180423-story.html

Basically he wants fellow passengers to rat out those who have not paid.

The comments at the end of the article are, ahem, interesting.

If I saw vandalism or graffiti in progress, I'd tattle and move to another car.

As far as tattling for tickets goes, not my responsibility.

Posted from Android

NJ Transit uses cattle style chutes and mobile ticket vending machines for events like the Hunt (Far Hills Race Meeting). For a few days a year you can run the line like a subway. Set up crowd fencing, and use check points

You can flood a few rush hour trains with extra conductors, each accompanied by a cop with handcuffs. Won't take long for the word to get around.

NJ Transit bus periodically boards the light rail with a ticket checker and officer. On trains I've taken, they always get a few violators of the proof of purchase rule. Cuff them to the fence and deal with them later.

Two weeks ago I took an afternoon non-rush and non-crowded train which makes all stops from Union Station to my stop in Zone D. The conductor did not check tickets in my car until two stops before I got off. This means everyone in my car and the car ahead that was not using a monthly pass got a free ride. Last week my daughter got on the same train at a Zone B station and the conductor did not check her ticket until she was in the vestibule to get off at our stop. Several of her classmates got free rides that day.

Posted from iPhone

Similar experience to the posted above when I have rode non rush-hour Metra's. I have made several trips in recent months where my ticket was never checked by the conductor, or was checked after I had been on through several station stops (at least 20 to 30 minutes).

I must have a guilty face. As a tourist, each and every time I board Metra, they get my ticket before the next stop after I got on, even local and uncommon trips like Glenview to Golf at 8pm (off the Empire Builder), or Des Plaines to Norwood Park on a Friday afternoon.

I rode TriRail, which also does not have conductors routinely checking tickets, from Mangonia Park to Hollywood FL and back last month. On the trip south, my ticket was never checked. On the return, some passengers across the aisle from me noted aloud that their tickets had not been checked just before they disembarked at Deerfield Beach. Just after that stop, an armed ticket-checker appeared and found one fare-beater at the far end of the car after checking everybody else. I watched him write up a citation/summons for the fare-beater, who then exited the train at Lake Worth.

TriRail single-ride tickets are non-refundable and valid only on the day of purchase.

I guess I have a guilty face too. When I made about half a dozen trips on Metra while visiting Chicago last September, including a couple on BNSF during rush hour, I had to show my ticket (I was using the Ventra App) to the conductor shortly after my boarding station. I used the Ventra App.

In the DFW area, the TRE, DART, and the DCTA A-Train use the honor system. I would estimate that 3/4 of the time no one looks at my ticket, but the remaining times an inspector will get on to inspect tickets and if you don't have one, they write you up for a $75 fine.

How do these ticket Apps work - Does your phone have to be using Data (which costs money) if no WiFi when the conductor checks ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> How do these ticket Apps work - Does your phone
> have to be using Data (which costs money) if no
> WiFi when the conductor checks ?


United and Southwest allow you to download a boarding pass pdf, so you store it on your device, and show it when you board.

No, I meant these commuter train apps ?

I'm not a technology expert, but I think that once you purchase the ticket (which of course requires a data connection), it resides entirely on your phone, no further data connection needed. You buy the ticket at your convenience, and then when you board the train, you activate it in your phone app and it remains active for the prescribed duration that it is valid. During that time it shows a certain color that when you show it to the conductor or ticket collector they know you have an active ticket. At the expiration time, it changes color and indicates it is no longer a valid ticket. So no data connection needed except when you first buy a ticket. Of course you do have to make sure you have adequate charge on your phone so it works when you need to show it to the ticket collector.

So you don't need Data connection to activate it about when you board ?

One (Motarola) Smartphone ago would mysteriously go down to 4% on me every few months, then die for no reason. It would also get very warm. Must have had a short.

I'd be afraid of that happening just when I need it. Imagine that on a POP system, then getting whacked with a $100 fine.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> So you don't need Data connection to activate it
> about when you board ?


No, you only need a data connection to buy the ticket. I've bought monthlies over my home WiFi and via the cell connection.
>
> One (Motarola) Smartphone ago would mysteriously
> go down to 4% on me every few months, then die for
> no reason. It would also get very warm. Must have
> had a short.

Sounds like a bad battery.

As long as you have cash, you can still pay for a ticket on the train. There is a $5 surcharge if you buy a ticket on the train and the station you got on at has an open ticket office.

Full details on the Metra Ventra app at: https://metrarail.com/tickets/ventra-app
includes a video showing how the ticket works on your phone.

kbmiflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Similar experience to the posted above when I have
> rode non rush-hour Metra's. I have made several
> trips in recent months where my ticket was never
> checked by the conductor, or was checked after I
> had been on through several station stops (at
> least 20 to 30 minutes).

If the vast majority of rides are to the downtown or across significant distances it will cost more in employee time trying to collect every fare than will be made up collecting them.