Surcharge For Paying Fares Onboard Trains

You arrive at the train station and you seem to *just* make it, as your train is arriving as well. The ticket office is open, and you realize that you don't have time to go in and buy a ticket without missing the train. The only money you have on you is *just* enough to pay the fare. You board the train, and the conductor comes to collect the tickets. When you hand him the cash fare, he tells you that there is a $2.00 surcharge for paying cash onboard trains when the ticket office is open. But, you don't have the $2.00! You are broke, and all you have is just enough to pay the fare to get you to where you are going.
What would most likely happen in such a situation? Would the conductor just waive the surcharge and just say "That's ok...don't worry about it", and explain for future reference that tickets must be purchased prior to boarding the train if the ticket office is open? Or, is it likely he will still enforce the surcharge, and possibly make you get off at the next stop, or even bill you for it?
There have been times I've thought about attempting this, just to see how much they enforce the surcharge.

Its a judgment call for the particular conductor. They have it in their discretion to waive the surcharge. Conductors are not authorized to remove any passenger over a fare dispute, unless a police officer removes the person. SEPTA has the infamous F-042 (aka purple form) that they are to administer if the passenger doesn't have the cash fare; however, they may not be so willing to present the purple form for refusal to pay. There is a big difference between being broke and cannot pay, and having the money but refusing to pay.

My experiences have been that most conductors are pretty strict. Maybe more so during peak hours when the majority of riders are regular commuters and less so at off hours.

Even though I despise the surcharge I understand why SEPTA has it; otherwise almost everyone without a Trailpass would buy their tickets on board. However I do think the situation would be a heck of a lot less messy if SEPTA did a better job of warning people about the surcharge and/or provided better & easier ways to buy tickets. I've seen too many cases where a new rider's first SEPTA experience was an argument over the surcharge. Not a way to keep them as a passenger! Plus, SEPTA has never been able to do what other systems all over the world manage every day: have TVMs that take credit cards and modern currency available at all stations.

SEPTA's ticket machines are a joke. You have to convert your currency to coins before using the machine since the machines do not recognize the paper currency. Depending on the time of day and how much time you have before the train arrives, your choices may be limited to missing the train or paying the surcharge.