Clean & Sober Ride Free?

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rtabern

rtabern

Conductor
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
1,606
Location
Northwest Wisconsin
On a recent trip on the Surfliner, a homeless woman tried to board the southbound train at Oceanside (this happened on #562 on July 2nd)... and got into an argument with the conductor... saying she had a "clean and sober" token and she should be allowed on the train. I didnt hear the whole conversation, but it sounded like this was some program the San Diego Coaster trains had, not Amtrak California... but she was allowed to get on anyway. I think the conductor either felt sorry for her or didnt want a scene. She actually went and sat in our Business Class car and was told to move back to coach after like 5 minutes. Is this a program or token thing a real thing in SoCal... or was she just making this all up? Just curious as I never heard anything like this.
 
Nice link, but it didn't give any details about Metrolink/Coaster/Amtrak tokens.

In fact, what it does say is that their walk in office is in Sacramento - a far jaunt from Oceanside.
 
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Last week I was on a Surfliner and a guy got into a heated arguement about free rides to jury duty. He had a printout about the subject and it turned out he was supposed to be on the subway or a city bus. They wound up charging him $8.00 because he was only going two stops. On the Los Angeles Metrolink and Subway systems your ticket is usually not collected and people climb onto Amtrak thinking they're getting a free ride there too. On Metrolink etc. they have the right to check your ticket but rarely do although sometimes an undercover sheriff will make everybody show that they paid.
 
shelzp said:
Last week I was on a Surfliner and a guy got into a heated arguement about free rides to jury duty. He had a printout about the subject and it turned out he was supposed to be on the subway or a city bus. They wound up charging him $8.00 because he was only going two stops. On the Los Angeles Metrolink and Subway systems your ticket is usually not collected and people climb onto Amtrak thinking they're getting a free ride there too. On Metrolink etc. they have the right to check your ticket but rarely do although sometimes an undercover sheriff will make everybody show that they paid.
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"Rarely"? I have my pass checked at least 75 percent of the time on Metrolink...
 
I saw a conductor making checks between FUL and LAX on Metrolink...

With regards to Clean and Sober, I don't think any of us will understand the program unless we're volunteers and/or homeless. There certainly isn't anything on the website about it. But it's probably a pretty educated guess that it ain't Amtrak, and from the looks of the website, even the Coaster seems to be way far from Clean and Sober in Sacramento.

IIRC, there is fare share with Amtrak & Coaster/Metrolink, but I would presume that is only for paid fares rather than coupons or tokens.
 
shelzp said:
Last week I was on a Surfliner and a guy got into a heated arguement about free rides to jury duty. He had a printout about the subject and it turned out he was supposed to be on the subway or a city bus. They wound up charging him $8.00 because he was only going two stops. On the Los Angeles Metrolink and Subway systems your ticket is usually not collected and people climb onto Amtrak thinking they're getting a free ride there too. On Metrolink etc. they have the right to check your ticket but rarely do although sometimes an undercover sheriff will make everybody show that they paid.
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On the Metro trains your ticket is never collected. Uniformed Sheriff's Deputies from the LASD Transit Services Bureau randomly board and check for tickets. I have been checked about 25% of the times I have ridden the Metro Trains. It is about a $250. fine if you did not purchase a ticket.
 
leemell said:
I have been checked about 25% of the times I have ridden the Metro Trains. It is about a $250. fine if you did not purchase a ticket.
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So, with a $250 fine 25% of the time, that's $250 for four trips or $62.50 per trip. :eek:

I think paying the $8 fare is less than paying the $62.50 fine. :giggle:
 
I ride both all the time and had made a point here that I've never had my ticket checked although I always have one. So the jury duty guy would have had a good shot at getting a free ride if he had been on one of those two instead of Amtrak. If someone on Metrolink or the Metro Subway would have checked his little printout they probably would have simply accepted it. In my experience nobody would have looked anyway although other posters have said their ticket is checked 75% of the time. There has been local news that they're going to start scanning the tickets to the Metro subway-they'll have to put gates etc. up. For all I know they've started construction in some spots.
 
shelzp said:
I ride both all the time and had made a point here that I've never had my ticket checked although I always have one. So the jury duty guy would have had a good shot at getting a free ride if he had been on one of those two instead of Amtrak.
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The one time I've ever had my ticket checked on board a Metro train was...one weekday morning, when I was heading to downtown L.A. for jury duty. (I've had my ticket checked in a station on a couple of other occasions.)

Metro is moving away from tickets and toward reusable cards. The fare inspectors supposedly carry equipment to read the cards, but I haven't seen that in action yet.
 
shelzp said:
I ride both all the time and had made a point here that I've never had my ticket checked although I always have one. So the jury duty guy would have had a good shot at getting a free ride if he had been on one of those two instead of Amtrak. If someone on Metrolink or the Metro Subway would have checked his little printout they probably would have simply accepted it. In my experience nobody would have looked anyway although other posters have said their ticket is checked 75% of the time. There has been local news that they're going to start scanning the tickets to the Metro subway-they'll have to put gates etc. up. For all I know they've started construction in some spots.
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The Sheriffs usually check tickets on certain days but they check between random stops. I've seen my fair share of people who got caught. Reactions have ranged from shock/anger to being led away in silver bracelets (the guy didn't have a ticket and had a outstanding warrant to boot).
 
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