When I pay my train ticket I hate it if the controller doesn't pass by. I paid so much money for it, so I demand to have it checked, otherwise I feel extremely silly to have bought a ticket at all.

In another time and another place I wouldn't mind, for example in the fifties, when you could reasonably assume all the other passengers bought a ticket. But I know a lot of people ride the train, tramway or the underground without a ticket. They are stealing from me, the honest ticket buyer, so let me check them.

Everyone wears the ticket visibly for all other passengers. In those badges you are made to wear at conferences for example. At least you can put it on your knee or the table or something when you sit down. When it becomes a law you can expect special adaptations to coats and bags to put your ticket in.

If you see someone without a ticket you send a message to the controller that he should come over to your compartment and you give the number of the chair that should be checked.

Those with guts can remind the fellow passenger to put his or her ticket up visibly. "Excuse me, I can't see your ticket, perhaps you forgot to put it up?"
-- rrr, Oct 24 2003

The ticket collectors on Metro North trains have little slips they can clip to show destinations that they tuck into the tops of people's seats after seeing their tickets, thus providing a very obvious visual flag. (They go along collecting these slips up again right before the marked destination.)

Seems to me that your public transport services need to beef up their ticket collection procedures if so many people are riding for free.
-- DrCurry, Oct 24 2003


how about RRFI tickets, little transmitting microchips that mark when a paying customer comes on board.
-- SystemAdmin, Oct 24 2003


Train tickets tha say "Hello my Name is:" ... "Thats where I met your mother ... "
-- Letsbuildafort, Oct 24 2003


Right along with what [SystemAdmin] mentioned....

Where I used to go snowboarding we had season passes with an RF chip that allowed you through a turnstyle when you neared the sensor. There was always one or two people to make sure that the passes were not handed back to another person or something mischevious.

I don't know if any types of public transportation have adopted this technology, but I thought it was effective and efficent....
-- KLRico, Oct 24 2003



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