Caltrain Fare Evasion Ticket, but Not All My Fault

My question involves traffic court in the State of: CA
Hi, thanks for helping me with this problem. This is the first time I meet such an issue, and I don’t think the problem is mainly due to my fault.

Cause: I received a citation for “fare evasion” on Caltrain. I used clipper card, but I tagged the card twice on the departure station. Double tagging on one station will cancel the payment, and the officer said “I actually didn’t pay for the train”.

Reason for double tagging: I didn’t realize that double tagging on one station will cancel the payment. when I were in the departing station, after tagging once, I noticed on the clipper machine “always have $1.25 on your card ”, therefore I tagged a second time in order to make sure there is enough money is on my card.

Why I think it’s not my fault:
1. This is my second time to use clipper card on Caltrain, actually, the whole clipper card system is new to Caltrain. In the whole station, including the clipper machine and the instruction of using clipper card, THERE ISN’T ANY sign to instruct you to “tag only once”. I usually use the card to take MUNI, another transfer system in San Francisco. In MUNI, tagging multiple times within 2 hour won’t cancel or increase the payment– it do nothing but show how much money remains in the card.
I refer to the Caltrain website after the citation and found: “If the second tag was done at the same station within 15 minutes of the first tag, the second tag cancelled your ride.” But one cannot find it anywhere in the station.
2. I have no reason to evade the ticket. I took the caltrain in order to fetch a sample for a class in my school. My school will reimburse me for the $13.00 traveling fee – but, of course, not the fine.

My question:

1. It might be my mistake that I didn’t go to their WEBSITE to check everything before traveling . But can I claim that Caltrain also have fault in not providing the correct time for tagging card ON THE STATION?
2. What should I responds to the citation? The fine should be more than 300 $, and I don’t hope there is any “bad record”.
3. If I go to the court, what material should I bring? The proof from school that the traveling fee will be reimbursed? And I took photos to the clipper machine & instruction borad to show there isn’t any information about double tagging cancels payment.

Thanks very much.

I'm not sure how people would be expected to figure out that issue in the absence of a sign or other notice. I would certainly attempt "lack of notice" as a defense. This isn't the subject of whispers around your school - how to get a free ride?

"I had no reason" isn't particularly convincing; there are lots of people who would happily manipulate for themselves a free ride and also seek reimbursement from their school.

Thanks for your replying.

Where can I find more details about the definition of "lack of notice"? The double tagging thing is on the website but definitely not on the station. What can I use as evidence? Should I take more photos of the station?

The reimbursement of my school always requires proof of payment, like bank statement, clipper card statement or recipient. So seems there is no way to evade the ticket and also get reimbursement. -- Is this argument more convincing?

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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I'm not sure how people would be expected to figure out that issue in the absence of a sign or other notice. I would certainly attempt "lack of notice" as a defense. .

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And where can I find more details about any articles about "lack of notice" ? I want to know whether Caltrain has the responsibility to put sufficient information of payment ON STATION in addition to the WEBSITE.

Thanks~

I think this would have been your notice:

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accidentally tagged my card twice. Was I charged twice?
If the second tag was done at the same station within 15 minutes of the first tag, the second tag cancelled your ride. A message will be displayed on the screen that your initial tag was refunded. If you want to ride the train, you will need to tag on again. If your second tag was done after 15 minutes, you will be charged the maximum one-way fare.

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So, now that you were given notice at the time of running your card the second time, what is your excuse now?

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Quoting jk

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I think this would have been your notice:



So, now that you were given notice at the time of running your card the second time, what is your excuse now?

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Since I didn't know that double tagging will cancel the payment, and didn't know how the system charges at that time, I didn't pay attention to other words on the screen at that time. I only focus on how much money remains in the card in the second tagging.

Actually, I tried double tagging today. The word appear was : $ XX /t refunded. I don't think it is clearly enough to indicate that one's payment is cancelled. The website says:

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"When you tag on, the maximum one way fare is deducted from your card. When you tag off, the system will calculate your actual fare based on the zones traveled. "

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I guess not many people knows what's the maximum one way fare. If one didn't know the maximal fare, and didn't pay attention to the first tagging (or else I would not want to tag the second time to see how much money remains) " $ XX /t refunded" can hardly be equalized to "payment cancelled ".

If I want to evade the fare, why did I tag at all?

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=cici;525086]Since I didn't know that double tagging will cancel the payment, and didn't know how the system charges at that time, I didn't pay attention to other words on the screen at that time. I only focus on how much money remains in the card in the second tagging.

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your failure to pay attention to the notice you were given is your fault. The fact is; you were given notice.

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Actually, I tried double tagging today. The word appear was : $ XX /t refunded. I don't think it is clearly enough to indicate that one's payment is cancelled. The website says:

I guess not many people knows what's the maximum one way fare. If one didn't know the maximal fare, and didn't pay attention to the first tagging (or else I would not want to tag the second time to see how much money remains) " $ XX /t refunded" can hardly be equalized to "payment cancelled ".

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so why would it refund anything? If you can't figure out what it means, maybe you should have a chaperon with you when you travel around town.

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If I want to evade the fare, why did I tag at all?

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because you couldn't claim you didn't know tagging it twice within 15 minutes cancelled your ticket if you didn't tag in.



best of luck. All I see as a defense is ignorance or mentally deficiency and since you were given notice, that kind of removes ignorance.

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Quoting jk

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so why would it refund anything? If you can't figure out what it means, maybe you should have a chaperon with you when you travel around town.

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It might be my mistake that didn't pay attention to the first tagging, thanks for pointing it out. However, if the Caltrain system was like the MUNI, where second tagging charges nothing and cancels nothing, the "refund" could be that the system charged and refunded at the same time for the second and ineffective tagging.

If the Caltrain system was like the MUNI system? What difference does it make that IF it was anything? It is what it is and you were notified it refunded money. Just what do you believe you had purchased if it said you were refunded money? You might has well swipe it a dozen more times if it is simply refunding money without ever charging you.

You can argue whatever you want but the fact that there are very limited cases of people being charged with fare evasion based on the same excuses you are trying to use shows that the average person apparently is given enough information to be able to understand what is happening when they swipe their cards a second time.

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Quoting jk

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If
You can argue whatever you want but the fact that there are very limited cases of people being charged with fare evasion based on the same excuses you are trying to use shows that the average person apparently is given enough information to be able to understand what is happening when they swipe their cards a second time.

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Reason rarely seen -> no one else did it so must be your fault
Reason commonly seen -> every cheater said it so you must be a cheater