I'm not opposed to rules or enforcement systems, but I do oppose spending more than need on them as it diverts money from service delivery.
This raises an essential point, and this lacks a linearity because I'm comparing a City competence to a Provincial one...
But note how many posters and others are willing to give the King Street Pilot miscreants a pass, but will jump to defend the complete opposite of imposed regimen when it comes to 'cheating at the fare wicket'.
There's something terribly wrong with this picture...it's ominous.
Edit to Add: Let me take a wild guess at what might have brought this on: Metrolinx were losing their cases in court on non-fare payment.
I and a cycling partner missed tapping on at Aldershot after tapping off the 18 bus, realized we'd missed tapping on, ran out to find a machine on the platform, there was none. We'd have to run all the way back to the entrance through tunnels to find one. We were already exhausted and buzzed from doing close to 100 km. And then we'd miss the train if we did. We came in a side door avoiding the front entrance for the elevator and there was no machine. Presumed there'd be one on the platform.
So guess who comes checking for fares! So we both told the exact truth, but I was miffed if not outright angry: ""Hey, tell you what. This is ridiculous, let's take it to court and get this 'hide the tap-stalks away from the trains' business straightened out. You know damn-well how the JP will rule on this". They flat out refused to ticket me.
And get this, (and yeah, I had them cornered, and I suspect they'd been warned not to ticket persons avid to make a case out of it) "The reason we don't put Presto stalks on platforms is because it would encourage cheating". That's like locking up emergency rescue equipment so it doesn't get stolen.
If he said that in court, not only would his case be sunk, but so would Metrolinx. Not to mention they *DO* put them on platforms at some stations, Bloor right behind me has them on the platforms and at every entrance from the street to the platforms. But note how they fail to at diverse places like Danforth and Rouge Hill when you want to take the most direct and easy route out? (To the paths in both cases)
So this might be a fall-back to having to put the machines where they belong: On the platforms as well as elsewhere.
