Tuesday, March 5, 2013

2013-03-05 Tue


The TTC - Refunds

I'll never understand the TTC scheme of things, so I live with it.
But the logic pains me.
I have half-a-dozen tickets, paper tickets, not tokens, in my wallet. The TTC has begun to replace them each year. This year they are brown, last year perhaps green, next year, who knows?
"I'm told that the idea is 'security"; changing the tickets each year thwarts the forgers.
I think not.
Load a different colour paper, or ink, into the word-processing file, and press "Start" again. Also reduce printing towards December, because you won't be able to sell that many tickets at the end of the year..
To alleviate public disgust for casual users who get stuck with unused tickets, the TTC in its infinite wisdom has instituted a scheme for replacement whereby you can upgrade tickets at specific stations for a while, after which you must travel, by subway, to the head office at Davisville.
It is not yet clear to me whether this will necessitate two more tickets down the drain just to reclaim the balance.
Here's the puzzle: Why not allow ANY station ticket-issuer to swap old tickets for new? Why force ticket-holders to traipse from, say, Kipling to Bloor-Yonge, transfer, north to Davisville, and back again, instead of just swapping tickets next time through Kipling?
I assume, of course, that TTC ticket sellers in their little kiosks are honest, can be trusted with thousands of dollars in cash, thousands of metal tokens, and hundreds of tickets.
I assume, of course, that at close of shift, a ticket kiosk person completes a register indicating that the dollar-value of tickets, tokens, passes and cash adds up to what it did at the start.
As an aside, I assume too that they are smart enough to toss in a toonie if they are short by two dollars; it's really not worth the hassle to re-count.
I can't come up with a logical (read "rational" or "sane") reason not to allow kioskers to swap or refund seniors and student paper-tickets.

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