Squeaky rail gets the grease

The Agence Métropolitaine de Transport (AMT), the transit authority that runs trains in the Montreal region, is issuing an apology and cancelling a ticket it says should never have been written in the first place to a Notre-Dame-de-Grâce resident who was on a daytrip to the West Island with his family. "We're definitely going to cancel his ticket," AMT spokesperson Julie Arcand told The Chronicle.

Ian Auchinleck, the passenger in question, responded positively to the news. "Obviously I'm happy to hear from them," he said, adding he was glad to hear the ticket will not be pursued by the agency.

According to a letter Auchinleck wrote to local media and the AMT, the incident occurred on rainy August 7th, when he had decided to take the train with his family for a trip to Beaconsfield. "We weren't even going anywhere," he said, adding he just thought his three young children would have enjoyed being on-board the train.

Not being a regular user of public transit, Auchinleck said he was surprised to find out at the train station that he could not purchase tickets before boarding the train, unless he had enough change in coins to pay for them at the lone machine dispensing the stubs on the platform. "Needless to say, I did not have $28 (the amount for 2 adults and a child) in coins in my pocket," he wrote in the letter.

Auchinleck and his family then boarded the train, hoping they could pay for tickets there. However, one encounter with zealous AMT agents later, they were told paying for the tickets was no longer an option, even after Auchinleck offered to stop by at another station, get cash, and pay them. Instead, he was presented with a $110 fine.

Auchinleck said the agents in question even saw him attempt to purchase tickets at the train station before boarding, and did not react. "They saw us go and look at the machine," he recalled when speaking to The Chronicle.

As is the case at other train stations, Auchinleck said there are some signs on the ticket platform warning passengers not to proceed beyond a certain point without a ticket. However, no signs indicate purchasing tickets on the train itself are not possible.

He had no resort that day other than to get off at the Pointe Claire train station and make change for $20 to get back home, he said. The AMT agents, according to Auchinleck, got off at the same station and kept watching his family, "no doubt to further intimidate," his letter reads.

The AMT was apologetic when contacted by The Chronicle. "I think that what happened to him was very unfortunate," Arcand said. "We're saddened by this," she continued, adding the agency certainly does not train its agents to deal with customers so badly and it was an isolated case.