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• Become argumentative or belligerent if an inspector approaches and asks for proof-of-payment. “Fare Inspectors are to remove themselves and cease all interactions with a person who is displaying aggressive, suspicious or non-compliant behaviour,” says the SOP. Fare inspectors are to alert Transpo communication control, which will dispatch special constables, and the driver is to open all doors at the next stop to give the non-co-operative rider a chance to leave the bus. Fare inspectors are to remain inside. The inspector who spoke to the Citizen says that more often than not, the belligerent rider is long gone before special constables arrive.

• Cheaters often also thwart fare inspectors by giving a false name, address and date of birth. Providing identification documents for a bylaw infraction is not a legal requirement.

Robinson says that for everyone’s safety on the bus, Transpo doesn’t want its fare inspectors dealing with angry riders. If a rider is non-compliant, Transpo’s policy is to give the person the opportunity to get off the bus quickly. As Robinson explains, the cheater has been caught and basically dealt with, even if special constables don’t catch him in time. Robinson says he has never heard of a case in which a non-compliant rider stays on a bus after the doors are opened.

Though Robinson says fare inspectors are instructed to use discretion with riders on their first offence, the inspector who spoke to the Citizen says that recently the push has been on to ticket first-time offenders using a Presto card.

The fare inspector says there are some colleagues who still use their discretion, but there are others “who only write tickets” to avoid any trouble with superiors. “At the end of the day,” says the inspector, “the officers still have a job to do and families to feed.”

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