Woman removed from VRE train after ticket snafu

An unidentified woman was pulled off of a Fredericksburg line VRE train about 8:30 Tuesday morning after getting into an argument with a conductor over her train ticket.

Eventually police were called to the scene to remove the woman from the train. Once she was off, the train continued on to the Rippon station in Woodbridge, 30 minutes behind schedule.

Everyone onboard that train had a valid ticket except for her. The people on board that train did not need the delay that was caused by the result of this verbal confrontation," said Roeber.

http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/loc ... afu/60253/

Obviously nobody "needs" a delay over something as stupid as an individual committing a crime against the carrier, but does that mean we therefore allow her to continue on with no consequences for her actions? How would the delayed passengers feel if they knew that the ride they had paid for could have been obtained for free simply by ignoring the law? Seriously, if I go to the supermarket and the credit card machine is broken, does that mean I get to take all my groceries for free?

I have been told that SEPTA's policy is that no train can be delayed due to a passenger refusing to pay. Police must meet the train at a station further down the line and the crews need to stay focused on keeping the train moving. If it works for them and there is no reason it should not work for other commuter rail operators.

if I go to the supermarket and the credit card machine is broken, does that mean I get to take all my groceries for free?

Wrong analogy. It's more like a shopkeeper screwing over a whole bunch of paying customers because one refuses to pay for some small purchase. Call the police, make a report, remember their face, but don't drive away your other customers especially when the marginal loss is effectivly zero.

Jersey_Mike wrote:I have been told that SEPTA's policy is that no train can be delayed due to a passenger refusing to pay. Police must meet the train at a station further down the line and the crews need to stay focused on keeping the train moving. If it works for them and there is no reason it should not work for other commuter rail operators.

if I go to the supermarket and the credit card machine is broken, does that mean I get to take all my groceries for free?

Wrong analogy. It's more like a shopkeeper screwing over a whole bunch of paying customers because one refuses to pay for some small purchase. Call the police, make a report, remember their face, but don't drive away your other customers especially when the marginal loss is effectivly zero.

Wrong.... when septa changed its fares awhile back,maybe 3 years ago at least, the tariff card that the crew has to carry clearly states that no passenger will be carried without a fare and I know for a fact that that hasn't changed at all. Depending on location, the crew will have cops meet the train at a stop that police can get to easily. I don't see what the fuss is. Everyone had a valid ticket on this train except her and I'm sure she's a regular and knows better. The people who ride the vre are generally regular riders .If she was a newbie, then I would've cut her some slack. It's easy to say that cops shouldn't be called but it was stated that she argued with the conductor, she could've verbally assaulted them as well. Whether its verbal or physical, its still assault.

Well VRE has recently been really cracking down on ticket issues, it was a misdemeanor until recently so I'm sure they took this situation very seriously.

Davis

Update: The woman was not charged

Must have been a slow news day..........

Not enforcing the rules simply opens the barn door to absolute insanity. Paying passengers see that one person effectively gets a free ride, while they pay and they get mad. Then the next day, one of them doesn't have a ticket. "you didn't do anything yesterday" Then the next day another one doens't have a ticket "what are you gonna do?" and it snowballs from there, til, the remaining paying passengers are all very ticked off that they write letters, complain and then don't buy tickets themselves.

And of course, the authority of the conductor is absolutely useless if he can't enforce the rules. Real easy way to loose control of a group of people real fast, and have a riot take place on the train. Extreme? not really. Not to mention, the conductors own job security is at stake.

However, common sense should come into play and as the article said, maybe she should have been able to get it validated at the next station or something.

The people might not have appreciated the delay then, but i doubt if any one who was on that train that night will ever try to get a free ride with that conductor again - they showed that they mean business, which is only fare (pun intended - hahaha) However, in reading the article, it seems that the company doesn't have the same belief....

Try that nonsense at an Airport and see how far that would get you - is it really any differnet?