My question involves criminal law for the state of: California.
Thanks in advance for your advice. I received a Caltrain Fare Evasion fine for $398, wrote a letter to the Court to explain that I am a monthly pass rider and the tag station was not working. I got a reduced fine to $120 and felt that it should have been dismissed. Should I go to court or it's not worth the time and just pay the reduced fine? Here's the story.
I received this violation on 6/1 around 8:00am on my way to work from Millbrae to Palo Alto station. I have tapped my card before getting on Caltrain and I got ticketed during my ride. This was the first of the month (June) and per my understanding the monthly pass won’t load until after I tapped my card again at Palo Alto station. The violation should be voided for the following reasons:
• I have proof that I have monthly pass since March (see attached page)
• I have only tapped my card once and the monthly pass won’t load until the 2nd tap.
• I have pre-paid for my monthly pass on the 15th of every month, which means I have paid for the ride 15 days before I boarded Caltrain on 6/1.
• The system (tap on and off) in this case has set me up for failure.
On my way back home, I tapped on at Palo Alto station and tapped off at Millbrae and the monthly pass still didn’t get loaded. I had to make a phone call to Clipper Card to finally mitigate this issue.

