Just Mel

Even the beggar pays!

An old lady *Looking at her silverly coloured hair, I guess she was more than 70 years old* quickly got her senior-tram-pass out from her hand bag, walking slowly towards the tram staff with her unbalanced foot steps. *The tram was still moving then* Struggling to keep herself in position, she grabbed the handle tightly. She looked as if she was going to fall any moment. Naturally, the people around her, held our hands up to keep her in balance. Genteelly, she turned to us and said thank you. She showed her ticket. *The tram stopped at the stop…* A few second later, after I too showed my valid ticket, I turned to look for the old lady. She was already off the tram.

This incident touches me.

She can have just gone off the tram.

One of the many things I have respect for the Austrian is that their attitude towards public transport. Here, the trust to customer is given as a starting point. The system believes that it is the responsibility of the passengers to buy tickets and they will do so. The driver will never question the passenger whether they have bought a ticket. The driver just need to focus on driving and sell the ticket when approaches by. In many ways, the locals do walk up and get a ticket. Thus explain why they aren’t many tram staff checking ticket that often, like many other places I have been.

In Melbourne, it is crazy! The ticket checking can be like everyday, every moment and every second. Sometimes, I would have encountered two or three times a day. *Also, the staff can be a fxxxxxg racist jackass… Another story for another time…* They took everyone as thief or burglar. Constant surveillance is needed to make sure people do understand the importance of buying a freaking ticket. Where is the trust!??? *Annoyed me just talking about it…*

Few weeks back, I was on the tram with my expired monthly ticket *expired by one day and I hadn’t got a new one yet* Two little kids hopped on the tram. They walked to the back. Minutes later, the older kid went up to the driver to purchase two tickets. That instance, I felt so embarrassed of myself. The kid just taught me a lesson and that was the last time I hopped on a public transport without a ticket. *It is expensive… Cry…*

Then, a friend told me some thing that surprised me more. There was few times she saw the beggar who she had once donated money to. The guy walked up the tram and paid for his own tram ticket. *Unreal!!!* … Even the beggar paid the ticket… *Speechless…*

Having said that, there are always minority that don’t pay the ticket, for instance, me in the past. *And I got fine… Cry…* However, the general crowd got my respect.

To them, it is nothing special, just a way of life, normal like drinking water. To me, it was a learning experience.