Subway Rider Busted for Selling a TokenSubway

Subway Rider Busted for Selling a TokenSubway
Rider Busted for Selling a Fare Token to Passenger Who Had Trouble With Vending Machine
The Associated Press

ATLANTA Dec 9, 2005 — Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine.

Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer "acted within the law" after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station

Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1390140

PB

Why aren't these clowns looking for pickpockets...ya gotta wonder how many purses were snatched while they were processing that guy for being a good Samaritan.

In the United States of BushCo, NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

I don't think he'd need a lawyer, and the stupidity of the people in authority around here really needs to be exposed! Hell, I hope the person he sold the token to helps him out and testifies for him.

The token was not countetfit and he was helping out another traveler. Oh yea, I forgot, you are not supposed to help out people, you are supposed to take care of yourself.

Welcome to our new police state.

What utter bullshit.

Who had asked him to get the token and he would meet up with him....this is classic LOUSY judgment and if there is any abuse, it is ABUSE OF POWER, and that clown doing the arresting needs to find another line of work.

No fare abuse, no profit-making, but Yes! Let's Handcuff the sumbitch.

It's pathetic. Seriously.

:thumbsdown:

You KNOW this case will end up getting tossed by a judge. Guy loses time from work to go to court, prosecutors waste time on a stupid case, cop has to testify instead of catching purse-snatchers, county gets zero dollars, and it fills the court docket.

Everybody loses.

neither Donald Pirone nor the other man involved had neither blond hair nor a business suit on.

It sound as if it was a REIMBURSEMENT of the cost for the token.

and then bought another for himself, that would not have been a crime? That sure makes a lot of sense!

He could have had a bomb!

appropriate.

I know this wasn't the case here, but there is an implication that it happens. Please educate the transportationally-challenged. I live in SE Michigan where there is NO usable public transportation. In fact, if you don't drive a Ford or a GM you are a commie socialist pinko peacenik (says the woman with a little bright red Hyundai with peace stickers all over it :hide: )

I can only speak about Chicago Transit. If I buy a 25 cent transfer it gives me two transfers over so much time, if I only need one transfer I might give my transfer ticket to another person who can then use the second one without paying the 25 cents. Chicago Transit has tried to bypass this by cutting down on the use of seperate transfer tickets that can be easily given away.

What about people who pull into a parking place that still has time on the meter? are they now criminals?

lost revenue. I see people asking for transfers all the time even though the CTA says you can't transfer transfers, I've never seen it stopped even when the person is asking on the bus, with the bus driver right there, probably because it really isn't worth the headache to enforce. The only other possibility is someone selling stolen tickets or such. For example when the CTA had tokens instead of the magnetic strip tickets, French centimes (worth less than a cent) were the same size and weight as the CTA token, and could be used on the turnstyles. I found this out by chance, but I'm sure there were people selling blanks and such as well.

"Only two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity . . . and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein

And it filters down directly from the "make-believe, idiot cowboy" that currently occupies space in OUR White House.

because the bulk tokens for commuters cost $1.75 each but the ticket for one-time travel is $3.00 or something so if someone sold the tokens, each token costs the transit $1.25 in lost revenue.

I could be flat wrong but I believe that is what the beef is.

In any event, the guy doesn't deserve to be handcuffed or charged -- a warning could have sufficed.

1.75 for one ride. If someone bought 20 tokens, the cost is $30, a 5% discount.

Not fare abuse.

...about this story is the way some people have a tendency to just dig in their heels:

"There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," Baker said. "The fact is, our officer acted within the law."

People just don't seem to want to admit mistakes and misjudgements anymore. There's always some "spokeperson" on hand to say that no one did anything wrong. It's as though the national character is becoming that of a sociopath.

On edit: I love that business about the "customer service phones", with "customer service" being so great these days.:eyes:

Usually they'll come up to you at the vending machine and ask you if you're buying a single ride, and if you are, they can swipe you through. I just tell them no thanks, I am just refilling my card. One time had a guy who kept pressing "CANCEL" when I tried to get the card at the machine and so I just gave him the 2 bucks because I didn't want to start anything. What happens, at least here, is that they "hack," so to speak, already-expired cards and add rides to them, then sell swipes to you. So THEY are committing fraud AND making money. I have no sympathy for people who do that, though Obviously this is a different case.

The only way the guy could have made money off the deal was if he bought 20 tokens for 1.50 each and sold them for the undiscounted fare of 1.75.

I think there are better uses for that cop's time. After all, he could have been arresting 12-year olds for eating french fries.

actually costs the MTA a LOT of money, so it's understandable. But this is different, and apparently it's just one time.

I'm not surprised about the arrest (even though it's ridiculous), but rather that the subway in Atlanta costs $1.75. The system doesn't go anywhere...it's just two lines that run either North-South or East-West.

How the hell can they justify that cost when it costs $2 to ride in NYC??

Real intelligent application of the law with common sense.

Watch out NYC.