Commuting by Train

I have been thinking of using public transit services (VTA Light rail) on and off for some time now. Never really tried it out since I always thought

a) the light rail is too slow
b) Without my car, I am stuck at the office i.e. no mobility

Finally yesterday (and today), I decided to take the light rail to work. The drive to the station from my house is about 10 mins and it takes another 18 minutes on the train to get to work. Needless to say, I was really impressed

a) Neat and clean trains
b) efficient and on time
c) not slow at all
d) most convinient

I am so happy I tried it out since I don't need to sit in back-to-back traffic in the morning/evenings (traffic is crazy here as are the drivers ... but that is another post for some other day), its good for the environment, I save on Gas and my company pays for the annual pass (to travel free on the train). It couldn't get better than this. I plan to use the service maybe 3-4 days a week.

On my second day (today), I saw something interesting. As I got on the train, another man in his mid-late 40s got on. He pulled out a book from his backpack and started reading while I got busy checking the news on my IPhone. :) A few station down the line, the ticket checker got on and what a surprise. This apparently well to do guy, was travelling ticket-less. He got cited (fined). The TT was very polite but firm. Then some more people got on the train and a youngish guy came aboard and sat right behind me. The TT came and asked for his ticket and guess what... ;) I heard him groan and say that he just got cited yesterday!!! yup, he was travelling ticketless too. The TT remarked "looks like you didn't learn the lesson...". In all 3 people got ticketed and then my station came and I got off.

I wonder why people cheat. Ok, time for me to go catch my train home.