• Got_Bent@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Man they take that shit seriously. Roughly twenty years ago, I was headed for a train, which I paid for. I think the mechanics were that I bought a paper ticket that had a magnetic stripe on it, then put that into the turnstile to enter.

    The turnstile ate the ticket, didn’t let me go through, and didn’t come back out.

    So I hopped it.

    No fewer than four NYPD were right up on me and they were not happy about the situation at all. They surrounded me I guess so I couldn’t run?

    I explained, and the only reason I got out of it was that some other people had seen me pay and attempt to put the ticket in and told the cops the same story I’d told them. This combined with my out of state license demonstrating that the whole thing was indeed new to me got them to let me go, but not without a very stern warning.

    I really thought I was going down that night.

    • cogman@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Cool, so the city paid for 4 people to sit and watch a turnstile for who knows how long to prevent, what, $100, $1000 in lost revenue?

      It costs them $50/hr per cop (roughly). Is the argument really that this squad is stopping more than 60 people every hour from skipping fares?