Public transport protest?

haminka

I just read about an interesting scheme that exists in France, Poland and Slovakia - a group of people using the public transport form a club and every month they put in some amount of money into the common budget.
They use the public transport without valid tickets and when caught, they pay the fine from their monthly fees.
They also exchange information on ticket controllers etc. and use a warning system to let others know where they are checking tickets at the moment.

What is your take on it? I personally am not so sure this is really a protest against the poor quality of public transport, rather an elaborate scheme to save money because the monthly fee and the chances of being caught are lower than paying for the tickets to use the public transport for regular users.
I also doubt their impact on improvements of the quality, at the end of the day they don't pay, the money is missing and if the company decides to increase the fees, it certainly won't go into improvements.

SEPT 23 1989

Bus w@nkers

dmcronin

(a) Its an elaborate scheme to be a cheapskate.
(b) I doubt we'd have the organisational skills/critical mass to pull it off here.

OneArt

It is being a cheapskate.

That said, public transport where I live is a rip off. As much as I love Germany, even Dublin has cheaper bus tickets.

prinz

Dirtbags. That is all.

I don't see the protest part of your post? What are they supposed to be protesting about? All I see is a group of people determined to pay nothing at all, (or at least the bare minimum) while others still have to pay for it.

haminka

Prinz,

they claim this is their way of protesting the bad quality of public transport as they don't want to pay for something that isn't good. I'm just saying what they say, I don't condone it.

prinz

haminka wrote: »

Prinz,
they claim this is their way of protesting the bad quality of public transport as they don't want to pay for something that isn't good. I'm just saying what they say, I don't condone it.

Utter stupidity, not from you but from them. Are they going to eat in a restaurant then do a runner without paying to protest about how bad the food/service was. As if public transport quality is going to improve the more people use it, but don't pay for it.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

haminka wrote: »

I just read about an interesting scheme that exists in France, Poland and Slovakia - a group of people using the public transport form a club and every month they put in some amount of money into the common budget.
They use the public transport without valid tickets and when caught, they pay the fine from their monthly fees.
They also exchange information on ticket controllers etc. and use a warning system to let others know where they are checking tickets at the moment.

What is your take on it? I personally am not so sure this is really a protest against the poor quality of public transport, rather an elaborate scheme to save money because the monthly fee and the chances of being caught are lower than paying for the tickets to use the public transport for regular users.
I also doubt their impact on improvements of the quality, at the end of the day they don't pay, the money is missing and if the company decides to increase the fees, it certainly won't go into improvements.

Similar thing was tried in Berlin. They ran out of money to pay the fines about two/thirds of the way through the month.

Souple with the fact that being caught three times in a certain period of time results in a trip to court, it never caught on.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

haminka wrote: »

Prinz,

they claim this is their way of protesting the bad quality of public transport as they don't want to pay for something that isn't good. I'm just saying what they say, I don't condone it.

prinz wrote: »

Utter stupidity, not from you but from them. Are they going to eat in a restaurant then do a runner without paying to protest about how bad the food/service was. As if public transport quality is going to improve the more people use it, but don't pay for it.

Have to agree with Prinz here: either pay for it or don't use it. I would like to know what.

Would have to know exactly what their problem is with the transport. If they're in Paris, for example, they really can't complain!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

dmcronin wrote: »

(a) Its an elaborate scheme to be a cheapskate.
(b) I doubt we'd have the organisational skills/critical mass to pull it off here.

... coupled with the fact that bus drivers won't even let you on if you don;t have a ticket!

prinz

Surely if they have an issue with investment in transport infrastructure it would be more beneficial to organise a mass boycott of the transport system. Even one day. Or one day a week for a few weeks. Or they'd refuse to pay the fines to draw more attention to their cause and so on...

Maldesu

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

If they're in Paris, for example, they really can't complain!

I was there one year during a strike and the transport was still great because the had the Metro still running. Other trains and some buses stopped I think.

Kolido

I'm in Slovakia and I see nothing wrong with the transport here. I pay 50eur for 3 month ticket, hardly breaking the bank.
You'd be lucky to see a ticket inspector couple of time a year and I use it everyday.
Sounds like they are just to tight to pay.

the groutch

I think there's one of these protests already on the Luas Red Line :rolleyes:

Immaculate Pasta

haminka wrote: »

I personally am not so sure this is really a protest against the poor quality of public transport, rather an elaborate scheme to save money because the monthly fee and the chances of being caught are lower than paying for the tickets to use the public transport for regular users.

This.

It's not a protest. It's just their way of justifying it to themselves when in fact they're just stealing a service for free. I don't blame them. If you can get away with it, people will. If you hopped on a train and genuinely didn't have time to get a ticket and there was no conductor, would you pay for a ticket once you got off? Course you wouldn't, you've just gotten away with it.

I know someone who commutes into London everyday and refuses to pay the extortionate season ticket prices. He's got on the train everyday for close to 2 years and just chanced it. He's been caught a few times but he says the benefits outweigh the costs. He says he's saved about £4000 doing this.

I don't have the balls to do it personally. When I've done it, I'm always looking over my shoulder for the conductor and I can never relax on the journey. I prefer to have a stress free journey rather than saving myself a few quid. :cool:

OneArt

Immaculate Pasta wrote: »

This.

It's not a protest. It's just their way of justifying it to themselves when in fact they're just stealing a service for free. I don't blame them. If you can get away with it, people will. If you hopped on a train and genuinely didn't have time to get a ticket and there was no conductor, would you pay for a ticket once you got off? Course you wouldn't, you've just gotten away with it.

I know someone who commutes into London everyday and refuses to pay the extortionate season ticket prices. He's got on the train everyday for close to 2 years and just chanced it. He's been caught a few times but he says the benefits outweigh the costs. He says he's saved about £4000 doing this.

I don't have the balls to do it personally. When I've done it, I'm always looking over my shoulder for the conductor and I can never relax on the journey. I prefer to have a stress free journey rather than saving myself a few quid. :cool:

I said it's being a cheapskate, but I'm also one!

And your friend is right. Where I am the tram is 2.30 euro for a journey that is four stops or more. So essentially me going into town takes about 7-10 minutes, a return trip is basically a fiver. I've lived here for nearly a year and I have only seen inspectors twice, the second time I got caught without paying.

43 euro for a year's worth of transport... It's a good deal.