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More Fare Schemes as Anti-Usability Transit Tools

Paying the LRT Fare Removes Riders From System

When I tried to pay the fare at the Franklin LRT stop one late December afternoon in the early twilight of daylight savings I thought it was an exposed uncomfortable place to figure out the LRT "automated" ticket machine. The exposed platform 25 feet in the air over the street was cold, the wind cut like a knife at my fingers and face as I read the incomprehensible instructions written in a teeny font. When I read that my pre-paid multi-fare magnetic strip transit card would not be accepted for the fare I was peeved but soldiered on. While squinting through wind tears at more mumbo-jumbo on how to get the ticket out of the machine a sudden gust snatched my $5 bill out of my numbed fingers. It dropped into the already dark rush hour traffic below and several flights of stairs and several lanes of traffic ment I was not going to go get it. I eventually got a ticket out of the machine.

"This sucks", thought I. Actually, I thought many nasty vicious things that were as dark and cold as the transit stop.

I still have to read the instructions carefully every time I take the LRT since I only use it a few times a year. So far I have not lost life or limb or suffered a beating. Others have not been so lucky. One way to drop ridership is to make transit difficult to use. When I see people at the airport that cannot figure out the LRT schedule and fare system to get to the free stop at the next terminal I know this is not usable, Keee-riist, we only have one LRT line here in the mighty metropolis how confusing is it if travelers cannot get one free stop down the only line? But now the LRT fare system has gotten aggressive and is eliminating riders.

http://www.startribune.com/local/48818857.html
Headline: "Ex-transit reporter mugged at light-rail stop"
Chuck Laszewski and a friend were attacked at the Lake Street stop as they bought tickets to head downtown.
By SARAH LEMAGIE, Star Tribune
Last update: June 23, 2009 - 11:03 AM
The Money Quote:

Laszewski and his neighbor, Bobby Thomas, 
were fumbling with the ticket vending machine 
at the Lake Street stop on Hiawatha Avenue 
when they were blindsided by muggers just 
after a train left the platform around 12:45 p.m.

To make a long story short they were robbed, beaten, chased, no one arrested, and they went home. They never did figure out how to get a ticket out of the machine. The article says they are plucky Minnesotans and say they have not given up on transit, I hear next time they are coming with pistols for defense and a crowbar to get the tickets out of the machine.

What Have We Learned?

Again, transit organizations have learned nothing. It does seem that simple fare schemes set at a reasonable rate help transit usability. Fare schemes that are confusing drive away people leaving them beaten and helpless. I still can prove by endless examples that Metro Transit does not want people to use its system.

The engineers and policy people that must understand the public's reactions to the usability of the systems seem clueless. There is no reaction to awful usability problems from the official media that just reproduce the public relations releases put out by transit organization P.R. hacks. It is obvious that transit officials or media people never get out of their SUV's and try to ride transit to get to a real destination. The closest they get to "using transit" is a grand opening fun ride or the wine and cheese vendor demo of a transit "concept" and that is not using transit, that is ignorance.

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