DART Cop episode one
I wanted to write all of this down while it was fresh. I am really quite annoyed right now.
I was on my way into work this morning and, most of you know, I ride the DART light rail every morning. I buy my tickets in 31 day pass form and today my pass was expired. It ran until 5/16 at 3:00am. So I went to LBJ/Skillman station like normal on the first day of my new pass and tried to buy a ticket. The storms last night apparently interrupted service to the credit card readers for the station because I tried 3 different credit cards on all 4 kiosks and none of them would accept any of my cards, all telling me to pay in cash. I didn't have $80 on me, so I thought I would just hop on the train and go down a station or two and buy a ticket there.
On the next stop, one Officer Bonny gets on the train and starts checking tickets and passes. I handed him my ticket and he says "This is expired. See here? It expired at 3:00am." I replied "I know, but the ticket kiosks at LBJ/Skillman weren't working correctly. So I was riding down to another station to buy my pass. I just wanted to get far enough south to get somewhere I could buy one."
He says "You shouldn't have tried to pass off an expired pass as valid then." To which I replied "I didn't. I just explained, and I'm trying to get to work." He tells me he's just trying to do his job also and then asks for my drivers license and writes me a ticket for $50. For fare evasion.
What's more is that he put my license on top of the ticket and passed it back towards me, then when I took my card he pulled back the ticket and wrote "refused to sign" on my signature line.
I've already bought my new pass. I also have called the DART station and complained about the citation and Officer Bonny (badge number 9083). The sergeant was very polite and told me that he would be getting off his shift around 2:30 this afternoon, and that they would have the ticket then. She would tag it and call me back by next Tuesday, whenever it gets processed. If she can't throw it out, I can contest it when it goes to traffic court, in about 30 days.
So I guess I'll keep the blog updated as I go. This is really annoying, but I'm pretty sure that it's mostly just annoying and I'll come out without having to pay an extra $50 for the system being down.
I was on my way into work this morning and, most of you know, I ride the DART light rail every morning. I buy my tickets in 31 day pass form and today my pass was expired. It ran until 5/16 at 3:00am. So I went to LBJ/Skillman station like normal on the first day of my new pass and tried to buy a ticket. The storms last night apparently interrupted service to the credit card readers for the station because I tried 3 different credit cards on all 4 kiosks and none of them would accept any of my cards, all telling me to pay in cash. I didn't have $80 on me, so I thought I would just hop on the train and go down a station or two and buy a ticket there.
On the next stop, one Officer Bonny gets on the train and starts checking tickets and passes. I handed him my ticket and he says "This is expired. See here? It expired at 3:00am." I replied "I know, but the ticket kiosks at LBJ/Skillman weren't working correctly. So I was riding down to another station to buy my pass. I just wanted to get far enough south to get somewhere I could buy one."
He says "You shouldn't have tried to pass off an expired pass as valid then." To which I replied "I didn't. I just explained, and I'm trying to get to work." He tells me he's just trying to do his job also and then asks for my drivers license and writes me a ticket for $50. For fare evasion.
What's more is that he put my license on top of the ticket and passed it back towards me, then when I took my card he pulled back the ticket and wrote "refused to sign" on my signature line.
I've already bought my new pass. I also have called the DART station and complained about the citation and Officer Bonny (badge number 9083). The sergeant was very polite and told me that he would be getting off his shift around 2:30 this afternoon, and that they would have the ticket then. She would tag it and call me back by next Tuesday, whenever it gets processed. If she can't throw it out, I can contest it when it goes to traffic court, in about 30 days.
So I guess I'll keep the blog updated as I go. This is really annoying, but I'm pretty sure that it's mostly just annoying and I'll come out without having to pay an extra $50 for the system being down.