I forgot to buy a train ticket this morning. Each week, I buy a ticket that will get me to Waverton, which is the last stop in the zone of my office. It’s now habit to use that ticket and of course it gets me through the gate at Hornsby, but it won’t get me out at the other end. This is the second time I’ve made the mistake and I don’t know if the station staff (or security) will let me get away with it a third time.
It’s the first time I’ve faced this problem in almost ten years. Bhutan doesn’t have trains. In Belgium and France, trains are long distance carriers and any intra-city travel is done on the Subway or buses, which are all one-punch tickets. The one price gets you anywhere you want to go. Japan had a subway, but I usually used the trains and often ended up in the same situation. It’s not a problem there, though. When you get to your destination, you simply put your ticket in the machine inside the gates and it charges you the difference.
I’m not a criminal. I couldn’t even get into the train system if I didn’t have a ticket. It’s about time we had a system that makes things easier rather than leading us into a trap.