When tapping to pay when you get on a vehicle doesn't work

There are quite a few times when we have been on transit and see how see people that just simply just get on a vehicle especially on the back door and don’t pay. People wonder why they have transit security around and I totally agree with it. People get on especially transit with multiple doors (more than at least 2) and think they will never get caught 

Recently we were on a streetcar here in Toronto and there was someone that got on one of the other doors and clearly didn’t pay for him and his bike to ride on the transit. Once he got on, he was taking a wheelchair area, and his elbow hit the call for getting off the streetcar. He never realized that he had hit this button and of course that meant that the driver had to get off the streetcar and open the door and tell this guy he had hit the button. Of course, he had no idea that he had hit the button and of course didn’t understand what he had done. So, this is a clear example of something being able to get onto the transit without paying and in a lot of cases never being asked to show proof of payment.

What really bothers me is that these people are the ones that mean that transit costs are going to go up for the individuals that are honest and tap every time they either board a vehicle or transfer between vehicles. It is hard to accept that the individuals that are honest have to deal with the individuals that are cutting the costs.

I do know that one of the ways the people are cutting the costs are when drivers open the back door and they trust that the passengers will tap and pay the fairs. I have watched so many people just simply get on and never tap their car therefore they are riding for free. It doesn’t matter f you are at a transfer point you need to ensure that you have tapped your card to ensure your route has been tracked.

The overall enforcement doesn’t seem to be working and all we keep hearing is that there are more enforcement officers, but I have yet to see one of them. We travel the lines during some of the busy times, and you think we would at least seem them sometimes. So here we are paying our fare each time we use the transit but watching too many others that don’t. I think there is a problem, but the other problem is that they cannot or don’t want to confront something as the issue doesn’t turn out well.

Being someone that is honest that the taps everything they are transferring between vehicles can be a bit of a challenge, but we also have know that we are doing what is right and what is expected of us and only hope the ones that are trying to cheap the system get caught.tr

Entering transit vehicles

Lately I have noticed that a lot of people are not looking before they start to enter a transit vehicle. A door on a bus or train is used for both entering and exiting a vehicle. It is amazing to just sit and watch people at the door. It is interesting the number of people that as soon as the door open immediately start to get on the vehicle without looking to see if there is anyone exiting the vehicle using the same door.

While watching this on transit I have seen individuals push onto a vehicle by the person trying to exit the vehicle. It would only take a few seconds to let the person off the vehicle first and then get on. I do understand that some people wait to the very last minute to get to the door when exiting but I am talking about the people that are standing at or very near the door before the vehicle stops.

If this situation happened on the rare occasion it wouldn't be something that I noticed but this happens on almost every trip I take on public transit. During my trip into the office today I noticed this happen three times and that almost got me laughing on the bus. It is sometimes funny to see the almost accidents between the two individuals in the door way because the person entering just sees a door open and not the person standing in the doorway.

It really only takes a second to look up to make sure that the doorway is clear before you try and enter a vehicle. It does avoid the accident or even the frustration of getting banged when exiting a vehicle. In some cases people are too busy looking at their mobile device and in other cases they just don't look.

When going to enter a transit vehicle take that second to look up and make sure you aren't going to run into someone else. Yes, just looking up away from your mobile device could make your day just that little bit better and avoid that accident.