6401b Fare Evasion, California

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California

The rules of the transit system I use for train travel intercity say that if all machines at a station are not in working order then you can board the train without a ticket, and if questioned by an officer you can explain your situation and they will contact the metro authority and verify your story.

Today I went to the train station where there are two machines with my ticket fare in pocket. The first machine I went to had a technician working inside the machine, the face of the machine was open and did not appear to be in working order.

So I went to the second machine which had a metal covering over it, preventing access. This is not unusual, as I have had to board the train before at least twice before without paying a ticket because of this very situation. Either the machines eat my money, or one machine is down and the other machine is being fixed. In the past when I was asked for a ticket I explained my situation to the transit officer and they would call metro and make me wait, but metro would ultimately verify that there are issues with the machines preventing me from buying a ticket.

Today I was pulled off the train and explained to the officer that one machine was covered and the other was being fixed. He told me to wait and he contacted metro. After about 20 minutes of waiting metro replied to the officer and the officer asked for my ID and said I was going to get a citation.
He told me that when a machine is opened by a technician that it sends an alarm to metro and lets metro know what is going on with the machine. He told me that metro has no record any alarm at the station of my departure. But if metro gets an alarm every time a machine is opened then it cannot possibly be true that they never received an alarm because I saw a technician with the open machine working around inside of it. The officer asked to see my money, I showed him the money I was going to use to buy fare. Then he wrote me a ticket and included that I had money and on the ticket he wrote that metro says the machines are fine.

So now I have to appear in court in almost two months. What do you guys recommend? I mean, I know _for sure_ that a technician was working on that machine because I saw him working on it. Yet the officer told me that couldn't possibly be since metro says they recorded no alarm. The officer said I was probably in a hurry to catch the train so I avoided the fare and hopped on (which isn't true at all).

This doesn't make sense to me, but any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Re: 6401b Fare Evasion, California

I recommend trying to get maintenance records from the station to establish that the machine was being repaired.

Surely, also, you weren't the only commuter at the station who experienced this problem.

Re: 6401b Fare Evasion, California

Quote:

Quoting Mr. Knowitall

I recommend trying to get maintenance records from the station to establish that the machine was being repaired.

Surely, also, you weren't the only commuter at the station who experienced this problem.

No...I wasn't the only commuter with this on that day, however, I saw in court that I was the only one who kept to his not guilty plea.

I gathered maintenance records, emails with Sacramento Regional Transit staff, printed in triplicate, all relevant sections highlighted and the citing officer didn't even show.

Judge told me case dismissed, then I put on my sunglasses and to my surprise "Welcome to the Jungle" began playing on my way out. Roll credits.