And another thing - it’s different for all you lot coming over here with your Interrail thingy maggummies, but when you’re a native trying to travel around the ticketing system is UTTERLY INSANE.
You can very often find a situation where buying the “wrong” ticket, or even a whole set of “wrong” tickets, is much cheaper than buying the “correct” ticket. And this is so complicated there’s even a guy called Barry Doe who writes a TWO PAGE LONG COLUMN published EVERY FORTNIGHT about ticketing policy.
Well, it seems like Fear of the Dark is indeed in an urban transit system. Germany (which I assume he is in due to the telling Fahrpreisnacherhebung) has a very dense system of subways, urban light railway, regional trains and national trains, the last two of which even use the same tracks. So it is entirely possible to be in Berlin or Hamburg and take a regional train instead of a U- or S-Bahn, because the stations are similar and the train is going to be much faster. It is also correct - on those regional trains there really is no difference at all between first and second class. They are much more mass transit than actual train, but somehow they want to pretend to be. Sorry for catching one of our less understanding ticket control teams!
That’s messed up. Talk about a system primed to be rife with corruption.
I’m glad that in the US, as far as I know, you NEVER pay tickets directly to the officer who issues them, always to some municipal county court house or something.
In my screwup, we did manage to buy the tickets in the station, but (and I forgot about this part) also neglected to stamp them in the machine before boarding. Between that and sitting in the wrong class, I suspect our conductor was being very nice to just shoo us into the second-class compartment. And no, I couldn’t really tell the difference either. The seat coverings might have been a tad nicer in first class.
In the European countries I know, locals get the ticket in the mail. For the exact reason that is provided upthread, tourists will be asked to pay on the spot (and yes I have been in both positions).
I don’t have much to say about your parking story, although you probably had a good case to have it dismissed. But throughout Europe first class cars are distinguished from second class cars by having a big “1” painted on them near the door. A tourist might mistake it once but never again. Heck, I’ll admit I made this mistake in France once almost 30 years ago. Then I learned to check for the number beside the door and I never made that mistake in Europe again.
I’ve got to say that I still don’t understand what the distinction is supposed to be between first and second class. Are you just paying more money to be in a less-crowded car?
That seems about right to me. From what I could tell, a ticket was good between two cities, and specified which type of train (fast trains more expensive than slow ones, for example), but didn’t say you had to be on a specific train. From Stuttgart to Munich, the trains ran about once per hour. I don’t know what happens if everybody, just by coincidence, gets on the 6:00 train instead of the 5:00 or 7:00. I’d be annoyed to have paid for my ticket and have to stand for that length of time, but I’m not sure what the mechanism is to prevent it.
There was something about reserved seats, but I never figured out how that was supposed to work.
If you pay extra they hose you down in the cattle wagons if its a hot day, and first class passengers are supplied with a bucket if they need to do a dump.
Heck never mind a bucket, the vent on the toilet tank is right next to the air intake (or something like that, I forget the explanation) so the vestibules (at a minimum) always stink.
Just to chime in, in most cases first class means bigger seats and more room. Quite similar to air travel really. Just like at home, it is your responsibility to know the rules/laws. Although I personally think the situation in the OP would be served better by just pointing him to the right carriage.
Well, that was back in the 90s, so perhaps it’s changed.
As for the US, Montana county cops used to issue basic speeding tickets that were $5 each. You had the option of paying the officer or going to court. Again, that was a very long time ago, and I don’t know if it’s still the practice.
Not true at all in my experience in the UK. I’m regularly crammed onto standing-room-only services that have loads of first-class seats available, but if you want to sit in them then you have to pay the upgrade. (And pay it before you sit down, otherwise you’ll get a penalty fare rather than just having to pay for the upgrade.)
That sir/madam, is why you need to know about the national rail conditions of carriage - take a look at section 39 - and quote it to revenue inspectors and the like in the future!
That happened to me in Poland. Luckily, I speak Polish. When the conductor told me that me and my travel companion were sitting in first class, I just looked around increduously and asked, in Polish, To jest pierwsza klasa? (“This is first class?”) He chuckled at me, punched our tickets, and let us go on our way.
I just traveled on Thalys trains in The Netherlands, Belgium and France 3 weeks ago. I can attest that there is a definite difference between first and second class on those trains because I traveled in both and the first class trains were much roomier.
Also, every time I boarded there was an attendant on the platform who checked your ticket and directed you to the correct car and class. The conductor did walk through after each stop as well and actually punch the tickets but since they have assigned seats in both first and second class a person would have to either be willfully trying to sneak in to first class or be a complete ninny to get caught out like you did, at least on any of those lines.
On the flip side, I did get fined in Italy on my 21st birthday in the middle of the night. I was in a train compartment with bench seats on either side, seated right against the window. There were two French women to the left of me, and two American women across from me. It was the middle of the night, and we were all fast asleep, and I had my legs across the aisle on the bench seat across from me. We were awoken to the conductor checking tickets, and then he says something to me in Italian and points at my legs. I have no idea what he’s talking about, so he whips out a calculator and starts punching into it. He shows it to me. It says 15000. I shrug my shoulders. He points to my legs again. Then it starts to make sense to me. He was fining me 15000 lira (about US$10 at the time) for putting my legs up on the seat. I was a bit irritated, but paid up. The women looked at me and expressed incredulity and anger on my behalf at what just happened.
He did give me a receipt, though, which I kept proudly for many years until it got lost in a move.
FotD, I took the opportunity to travel in a First Class carriage from LeMans to Paris this summer. My friend and I were the only ones in the carriage. As we got closer to Paris, more and more students came on board (it was a Sunday evening) to return to school. Within about 3 stops, first class was loaded with students and coach class was still half-empty. There was no conductor checking tickets and I still had to go three coaches up to find a loo.
I didn’t mind, partially because I am used to travelling in coach, partially because the students were not unruly, but I was amazed that we got charged €20 more for the same travelling conditions. It all seemed arbitrary to me. Next time, I’ll buy the cheap seats.
