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Assuaging his T guilt
By adamg on Sat, 06/21/2008 - 9:49am
Joe Pesaturo at the MBTA passes along a letter to the T from Daniel Verinder of Jamaica Plain:
Recently, I was preparing to enter the gates at the southbound T station at Kendall when a passenger said to me, "I'm going to go through with you," meaning that they were going to enter for free on my pass. Without thinking about it, I said, "OK." But as I entered the train car, I started thinking about how unreasonable this action was. I am a big fan of public transit, including the MBTA, and I did not like the though that I had cost the MBTA money. ... Regardless of the fare-evader's economic situation, the MBTA should not be the one to suffer for their lack of funding.
So Verinder bought a CharlieTicket and sent it back to the T and made a donation to Alternatives for Community and Environment. And next time, he says, he'll pay for a CharlieTicket for somebody who wants to get in with him for free.
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Or, rather than turning it into a touchy-feely crusade, next time he could just say no...?
So the T designs and
So the T designs and implements a system that's easy to get around, and deploys cops who deliberately choose to avoid going after fare evaders, and this guy's somehow the one who feels guilty?
this guy really has way too
this guy really has way too much time on his hands. i understand what he is saying, but touchy feely is an understatement.
He would have too much time
He would have too much time on his hands if he wrote down the date, time and approximate physical location within the station and send that information to the T office in the hopes that the security cameras could zoom in on the evader's who-knows-what and issue a citation by mail.
It's not that easy to get in
It's not that easy to get in for free. Unlike the previous system, you can't easily get in on your own. Before, you could bend the turnstile backwards and slide through, but now it's usually a two-person operation. You have to jump in behind someone else, leading to a possible confrontation that not so many fare-jumpers want to have.
When the new faregates went in, I had a couple of people try to push in behind me. At first I stopped and told them to pay their own way, but that seemed a little dangerous. Then I'd look for someone who might be rushing up behind me, and make a quick change of gates. But I haven't had a fare-jumper try to get in on my card for many months. I still hear the alarms go off but I think they are usually for backpacks and strollers. I think fare-jumping has dropped off by a huge percentage.
Based on what I've seen, Charlie
is MUCH easier to the average fare evader to beat than the old turnstiles ever were. Some observations of fare evaders based on my 25+ years of riding the system:
Evading the old turnstiles by 'bending them backwards' (as opposed to just jumping over them - which I have never personally seen done) required a slow deliberate action that, even when perfectly executed, still left evidence of the crime (a mislocated turnstile).
By contrast, evading a CharileGate appears to be a simple matter of going through a gate that has already been opened for either a) someone who has paid their fare or b) someone who is trying to exit the station. Unless the CSA or the transit officer observes the evader at the EXACT MOMENT they are going through, I presume it would be very difficult for them to prove intentional evasion - all the evader has to do is carry a CharlieCard with no value on it. And the fact that the gates are so poorly designed and operate so badly doesn't help at all.
And if you think fare evasion has gone down since Charile was introduced, conisder the fact that the MBTA didn't start collecting exact data on fare evasion until AFTER Charile was implemented. Prior to that, the losses due to fare evasion were very rough estimates - probably to cover up the fact that most or the revenue loss occurred after the tokens ended up in the turnstiles.
Turnstiles
How easy it was to get past the old turnstiles without paying may depend in part on body size. If you are tall and skinny, you could just kind of squeeze by them at the knee without really pulling or pushing them too much. Not that I would ever have done anything like that when I was a teenager, mind you...
Just say no
Repeat after me: NO!
NO you cannot follow me and get in for free. Honestly if nobody was paying attention anyway he could have just jumped the gate.
When I was 15 I went to Central Square Cambridge with my cousin and was using my fathers pass. We tried to enter the station on one pass where I slid the card through the reader then "non chalantly" reached around and gave it to my cousin. As she went to go through the turnstyle a T cop appeared out of nowhere, stopped the turnstyle in its tracks (my cousin slammed into it) and as he went to grab the pass I grabbed it from her hand, tossed her a buck (it was only like 85 cents to get on at the time) and backed up like 15 feet. He didnt chase after me and let her buy a token and get on too. We knew we were doing something wrong and paid for it, we didnt blame the cop, and I still dont. Why cant we enforce these things anymore? I never tried that again lol
using the same card twice...
I don't think that one should be a crime, Charlie. It takes money out of your account off the pass. it isn't like 2 bodies squeezed through on one swipe.
It's the same fare, just swipped off one card. 85 cents for YOU, 85 cents for your cousin. The fact that anyone gets in trouble for that is BS.
it isn't like one of you paid and the other didn't. it's just stupid.
I may be wrong, but I
I may be wrong, but I believe he's referring to the montly pass. No money is taken out, one set fee for one person for one month. The only time you could get away with a free ride was on Sunday!
aaah. that makes a difference.
Well that just makes a humongous world of difference. Thank you for setting me straight.
:-)
That wouldn't have worked anyway
or at least shouldn't have, if the (old) pass-reading machines were working correctly. They were supposed to lock a monthly pass out if it had already been used at that station within the last N minutes.
Touchy-Feely?
Of course this is touchy feely!!! Does that make it wrong? Absolutely not. While his willingness to apologize, and his desire to help others is out of the ordinary, it's a reflection on how altruism still survives in this city of isolation and rudeness.
Umm ...
Are you serious? This is not altruism, it's fare evasion.
Actually...
...no, it's not fare evasion. It's the exact opposite. If you read the referenced post in the original article, you'll see that this rider went out of his way to rectify his error. And buying a ticket for a fellow rider is hardly fare evasion.
By definition, any one of these acts is known as altruism. In fact, this rider went far out of his way to make sure that the MBTA got their money, and offered his help in helping passengers who may not have enough cash on hand to get onto the T.
That's altruism, buddy, and that's only just one of many acts of kindness that gives me faith in society.
No, actually
Given that this is being passed on by the MBTA, it strikes me like they are trying to pressure law abiding riders to pay the MBTA for fare evaders. That's not altruism. This is being promoted by the people who want us to give them money. That's greed. I don't remotely support fare evasion and think the MBTA should find ways to stop. A way which does not involve suggesting that *I* pay the fare of an evader. If the overly guilt riddled rider had posted this on his own, you'd have a point. But this is an MBTA official promoting this story and it strikes me as very questionable judgement for them to be suggesting that paying customers pay for non-paying customers instead of the MBTA taking measures to collect payment from all riders.
Look, if anyone wants to be altruistic with regards to MBTA fares, this is a STUPID way to do it. Most fare evaders are capable of paying their fare. They just choose not to because its a way to scam the system. You want to really do some good, fill up a Charlie Card and give it to a homeless person. You know they need the help and its a way to give them aid that you know will be at least not be used to directly make their situation any worse. That's a much better way to show generosity than giving into any idiot who wants a literal free ride.
i think it's more of the
i think it's more of the mbta acknowledging a customer who screwed up, realized he screwed up, and made amends, as a way of thanking him for doing so, rather than just doing it and letting that be that.
It's not altruism at all. If
It's not altruism at all. If he bought a card and donated it to a poor person, that would be altruism. He agreed to be part of scammiing the system, then he paid back what the other person owed. It corrects a wrong, but it's hardly altruistic.
Altruism would have been
Altruism would have been giving the person $1.70 to pay his fare on the spot.
It's not altruism when you help somebody steal something, and then pay for it a day later because you feel guilty.
On Friday, I used my Zone 3
On Friday, I used my Zone 3 pass to enter the Red Line/Silver Line are at South Station, and then remembered that I hadn't hit the cash machine. I went back upstairs, got money, bought a book, and was then greeted with the dreaded "Pass Already Used" message on the turnstyle. I stood around for about 5 minutes without seeing any T personnel, tried my pass again with the same result, and finally caved and used the Charlie Ticket I have for days when I forget my pass. So the next time someone jumps fare behind you, fear not; I paid extra and already covered them.
And then there's the Handicapped Access gates
Kendall Square is the perfect example. If you happen to use the unmanned entrances for this T station, there is one access gate which is for able-bodied persons, and then a wider one for handicapped/special needs persons. The wider access gate tends to be timed to remain open longer, on the assumption that a person who uses it needs more time to get through. The funny part is that these unmanned entrances can only be gotten to if you trudge down the two half flights of stairs to the gates. A handicapped person or even a person on crutches would never be able to manage it. I suppose the T had to install them at every entrance to satisfy the AWD Act but all it does is promote fare-jumping.
Oy.
Sure, the station is badly designed, but please, have a little background before you go advocating for folks. MOST people with disabilities (or "handicapped people," as you erroneously put it) can walk down stairs without any difficulty. That fact-checking error aside, yes, the MBTA most likely installed the gates to comply with the ADA. The ADA requires places of public accommodation (like the MBTA) to install facilities in such a way that they're as accessible as possible. While someone who is a full-time wheelchair user and doesn't do stairs can't use that entrance at all, it does still need to be accessible to people who can get down the stairs but might not be able to use the narrower/faster gate -- such as people who use a service dog, people who use crutches (and yes, many full-time crutches users can do stairs quite skillfully), people who have poor motor planning, etc. Since it's possible to put in the more accessible gate in that location, the MBTA is required to do so.
Also, in the MBTA's setup, someone using a disability pass has to go through an accessible gate, so this is another reason both gates are set up in the Kendall location you described. Most disabilities don't involve mobility or motor skills, so a lot of people would get down there and then not be able to get in. Of course, there've been a lot of complaints filed regarding this particular policy, because it creates unnecessary segregation. There should just be one gate of the more accessible type at Kendall. Similarly, all gates should take all types of fares, and ideally all would be the accessible type, but for space reasons in some of the smaller stations there would probably need to be some of each.
Sorry!
Thank you for clarifying the issue. I am only working on personal experience from using these entrances during peak rush times and having never seen persons with crutches or a service dog or any of the other things you describe. But, it does make sense in light of your clarification.
However, that entrance on the southbound side, right in front of Kendall Square Florist, can be treacherous for an able-bodied person; I can't imagine even trying to make it down if you're a crutch-user!
You're slipping
Please eeka not logged in (not verified), we're sitting here waiting, begging, for the snotty lecture about how ignorant and offensive the term "unmanned" is! Please! Let us have it! Now!