Beware of local scumbag translit police
 

I usually don't start rant threads but what happened last night was just above and beyond hence I'm making a thread about it

Last night, buddy and I decided to take the skytrain to dt from lougheed station to meet couple other friends to drink. When we were about to pay for the tickets, we noticed that all the ticket machines had "Temporarily Out of Service" stickers taped on to the card slots and the screen. There was not much we could do, so we decided to just hop on to the skytrain (we asked one of the transit workers there, he told us to dont worry and proceed)

Couple stops later almost near vancouver, these transit police on the train were asking people to display their tickets. When they came to us, we explained the situation, assuming they knew about the lougheed station ticket machines. Well nope, they first, tell us to get off on the next station, they "called" their dispatcher there to "check" the machines and apparently the machines were operating fine which lead them to issuing us a 173 dollar violation ticket. We literally stood there for 1 hour, arguing with them, but these ungrateful assholes rather had that "pffft nice try liers" face expressions and attitude with them.

Buddy and I decided to fuck it, screw dt, lets go back to lougheed station and prove these guys wrong. So we took the train back to the lougheed station. Here is the most fucked up part. When we got off on lougheed station, we both rushed to the machines. When we got to the machines, guess what, the "Temporarily Out of Service" stickers were gone. It left us speechless but we could still see the remains of the stickers. We took pictures of the sticker remains for court purposes and even made videos of it (not that it would help much anyways).

About 30mins in, the same 3 douchebag cops that issued us a ticket were coming downstairs on lougheed station (this was actually quite lucky for us). We quickly called them over, and showed them the sticker remains that were left on the machines. The guy starts to laugh saying "that doesnt mean anything" and walks off.
Right when we were about to give up on this whole situation, we saw a skytrain security guy walking around. We rushed to him, told him the situation and asked if he knew anything about the machines being down couple hrs ago. He says "yes, the machines were down but a technician came and fixed it" We bring the transit security dude over to the 3 douchebag cops, the guy tells them about the machines and cop cancels our tickets.

I was AT LEAST expecting an apology for ruining my fucking night with a wasted club ticket that i couldn't even use. But nope, no apologies were given, no fucks given, He just scribbles around the ticket, says have a good night, and leaves. We asked the transit security guy if he ever got a call from those police but he says no, never received a single call.
If you guys ever run into ticket machines that are out of order, Please make sure to at least take pictures of the broken machines and make sure the photos have dates on them. Or these fabulous Vancouver transit police pigs that are supposed to protect the citizens with our tax money will ruin your day with their shit attitudes.

Fail.
You know what, if the machines weren't working at one station, you take the skytrain to the next station, get off and purchase your tickets there. Also ticket machines weren't working at the time of purchase wouldn't it make sense to take pictures of it with your cell phones (unless of course you don't have a cell phone with a camera...).

Let me guess you most likely argue with them and trying to prove you are right. Once I forgot to the ticket on the skytrain explain to them transit security that I always purchase the monthly pass and is the beginning of the month so I forgot. They let me off the hook, coz I was being nice and didn't argue with them. It is still your fault for my having paid for your ticket.


Is call common sense which you seem to lack.

are you kidding me?

- cop gives you ticket for no fare payment

- you tell him it's because the machines were broken

- cop calls their dispatch to see if it is true (and is advised by the dispatch that they ARE WORKING")

- cop issues you a ticket because they probably have been lied to so many with the same excuse

- you see the same cops and with word from security that the machines were down

- they CANCELED THE TICKET

so why are they dicks? they did their job with the information and evidence they had. they canceled the ticket once they found out your story was true. They don't have to be sorry for the machines being down. if they really wanted to be dicks, they could have told you "tough luck and dispute it" and made you waste a day of your work week to attend traffic court.

No, you fail. Why? because we asked the police about this, and even asked the securities that were at lougheed station before getting on the skytrain

If all the machines are down, you have the right to go on without paying. This is what the police told us THEMSELVES except they thought we were bullshitting. If i lacked common sense, i dont think i'd be here as of now. Dont judge without knowing the situation dick head.

So you would be happy in this situation?
what about the time they wasted for me and my buddy? what about the club tickets that were wasted because we couldnt go? was i expecting them to bow down? no. All i wanted was a simple apology for wasting my night. which didnt happen.

No common sense is you get off at the next skytrain station and paid at that station.

without common sense, it doesn't necessarily mean you won't survive in life... look around you. most people don't have common sense.

Moral of the story, Jason.....just drive. :P

Hahaha jk bro. That would totally ruin my night as well but props on being persistent and getting the ticket voided.

wow. do you want a cookie as well? a halloween treat? stocking stuffer? wedding gift?

they were doing their job. it's an unfortunate incident. they did not deliberately ruin your night. they didn't give you a ticket knowing the machines were down. they actually checked to see if the machines were down, but were told, no. You technically didn't have to waste the rest of your night to investigate the matter, but you did. That was your decision. what happened to the other people that boarded with you that couldn't pay for the fare? Were you the only one out of all those people that got caught?

What you could have done was get the information date time etc of the security person or station. call up translink to see if there was issues with the machines... dispute the ticket with that information the following day, and still go on with your night.

I would not be happy, no. But I wouldn't blame the transit cops for doing their job if that is what you are asking. If anything you should complain to Translink to have better communication with the transit cops regarding these situations as it could avoid situations like this happening in the future, but to say it is the transit cops fault? The first thing I thought when I started reading was that someone was playing a prank on the train riders by putting fake out of order signs to screw people over, which can happen. You are lucky it was actually out of order and had the ticket cancelled.

Spidey's common senses are tingling!

I could not have said it better than myself.

sorry Jpark but it doesn't sound like the transit police did anything wrong as Spidey pointed out they tried to confirm your story and was told otherwise and when they found out it was the truth they cancelled your tickets so what else could you expect?

Lougheed station has two seperate entrances, when one is out of service the other is typically in service, this has happened to be a few times before there and I always am able to walk over to the other entrance and get a ticket.
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okay fine, if you put it that way, i guess they were doing their jobs. But you are certainly right on them needing to have better communication system. But it was mostly their attitude. I felt like a prisoner. They deal with punks everyday, so i yeah i understand, but seriously? if this is their regular attitude, i guess im not used to it because i never had to deal with transit police in my life, and i rarely even take the skytrains

who takes the transit when you have a s2k

Honestly you're lucky they even cancelled it in the first place..... if they were bitches they could have just said fuck it and left

This is what's wrong in our society these days. Everyone is pointing their fingers at somebody else without first putting themselves in others shoes. Can you even imagine the number of people the transit cops deal with DAILY with similar excuses. Basically you were caught red-handed with no proof of payment, they did their diligence in checking with their dispatcher and were told the machines were operating, so it should then be up to you to proof your case. They did the right thing once you were able to proof your innocence, so why should they apologize to you for doing their job? I don't see any wrongs in what they did so why should you be entitled to an apology? Btw, they didn't necessarily checked with the same security person at the station since I would imagine there are dispatchers going from station to station or in a central location.

Funny enough, people bitch when translink aren't getting the fare dodgers, and when they are, people bitch anyways. There's no winning.

^they were certainly doing their jobs, but like i already stated many times, it was their attitude that got me the most. When i was trying to explain the situation, i was being polite, they didnt even try to listen, started shouting at my face, i had to emphasize that the machine was down probably 50 times. Was all this rediculous attitude that necessary even though i was cooperating with them? Ironic you say that people point fingers without putting themselves in others shoes, yet you are doing it yourself right now for my situation. I guess I described the situation too uniformly.

I rather drive and pay the $12 parking or whatever it costs, than to take the transit. FFFFF Translink and their useless shit that always breaks down.

An argument could be placed against you because not all the machines were down all the way to Vancouver. Yeh, it makes sense to go on the train without paying if it's all broken, however you can really only make an argument for one station's worth of a train ride.

I noticed that you haven't really answered the above posts by others mentioning the whole getting off the next station and getting a ticket...

You could also report this to the board that the transit police reports to, however the likelihood of that doing anything is slim.

what is there more to answer? when we noticed that the machines were down, we asked one of the transit workers there at the station, he said dont worry about it and go on. You really expect me to get off on the next station and buy another ticket when i was told by the guy who WORKS there to not worry about it?

Yes I'll admit that I'm doing the same without having a first person account of what happened;however, in your first post, seems like you were calling them SCUMBAGS and PIGS because of their refusal to cancel your ticket rather than the attitude you received from them.

If ticket machines are down, you should have gotten off the next stop to purchase a ticket. Or get onto a bus and ask for a transfer, rather then just get on a train think its alright not to pay.

Same thing happened at a parking meter. Parking meter was out of service, so rather then me still park there and be like "oh well, its broken ill still park here" I parked my car at another working location and paid accordingly.

The guy who works there, does not give a crap about you getting a ticket. He is probably thinking get away from me and stop asking me stupid questions!

Cover your own ass, and do not assume it is safe because some one else said its ok.