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Police: Man annoyed at T worker demanding he pay his fare punched a train window

Cuesta

Transit Police report arresting an Everett man who got too angry to control himself when a T employee insisted he pay his fare at the Massachusetts Avenue stop on the Orange Line Thursday night.

Police say Peter Cuesta, 28, first demanded a worker "badge" him into the station around 11:50 p.m. and when she refused, he cursed her and simply busted his way through a fare gate.

At this time the MBTA employee requested Cuesta leave the station. Cuesta refused and made his way to the platform to await the arrival of an Orange Line train. As the train arrived and came to a stop Cuesta, with a closed fist, punched the first door window of the head car causing it to spider web crack. Cuesta then entered the train car.

And then sat there until Transit Police officers arrived to arrest him on a charge of malicious destruction of property - and to issue him a ticket for fare evasion.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

More of a reason why they need to move to POP.

T Employees are not fare enforcers. TPD need to do that...

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The T making $$ cuts has especially affected public safety. They had to stop allowing T Police to transfer to other depts in order to maintain some sort of force numbers. Can’t retain them? Then trap them in where they’re at!!

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I agree. But at least an MBTA employee was there. More often than not, there's nobody whatsoever guarding the store. Say what you will about NYC's MTA, but at least they have personnel in the stations. (And what you say should be positive, because, comparatively, that's a hell of a transit operation!).

Which reminds me of the time that my friend was encircled by a group of guys on a north shore T bus that let out at Wonderland. He had his laptop on his lap on the bus - big mistake! - and this group of guys decided to start menacing him. Like threats and everything.

Things only got worse once they got to the actual T station.

As I recall, 911 connected him to the MBTA police for jurisdictional reasons. He ended up taking refuge in some corner of the station, waiting for some overly-protracted period of time for a patrol car to show up, and eventually just getting the hell out after waiting and waiting to no avail.

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Proof-of-payment versus barrier fare collection is independent of whether the people who give citations are police or civilians.

Cities with efficient proof-of-payment systems have enforcement by civilian agents.

MA law allows MBTA inspectors to write fare evasion tickets.

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BART police in San Francisco issued over 1300 citations in two months . I doubt the Transit police do this much enforcement in a year

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Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it.

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The amount of people that fare evade at Mass Ave Station is absolutely insane.

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Nasty, too.

He should realize that everybody who rides the T must pay the fare. Since when is he any more entitled than anybody else not to?

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Maybe, there was another factor involved

Give the T employees credit. They handled it.

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One can get pretty cranky dealing with the T at that late hour...

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No Excuse for this kind of behavior, but... People would be much more compliant in paying, if fare collection was more universal.

Anyone who's tried to pay for the bus when their Charlie card is short of the fare knows the driver will just let them in. Same thing when paying in cash. "Don't worry about it," with a wave in.

Large stations with multiple entrances have completely unattended turnstiles even during peak times (i.e. Harvard station's Western most entrance).

Speaking of turnstiles, these "two-way" entrance/exit mechanisms are too easy to get through without paying. The traditional three-pronged turnstile, that everyone from transit agencies to carnival ride operators have used for over a hundred years, are much better, and nearly impossible to sneak through without hopping over.

Lastly, if the MBTA owned the software rights to Charlie, and could therefore alter programming, we could have progressive fares like on a turnpike. Tap on tap off!! I propose 25¢ a station!! Then I'd use the T to get from Arlington to government center for 75¢ instead of just walking or biking, and the MBTA would make $1.50 from me every day. That's roughly $375 a year from me alone!!

As it is now, my three station trip of under 6 minutes and about one mile, costs me the same amount as it costs someone to commute in from 15 miles and an hour+ away via a bus to a T transfer. That's like a restaurant charging the same amount for the steak as they do for the salad. It makes no sense!

Once again, nothing excuses criminal behavior, and this guy seems like a thug, so I'm glad he was nabbed. However, the state of fare collection and the amount collected is frustrating enough to make even a normally law abiding citizen try to game the system once in a while!

#spayandneuteryourpets
#fixcharlie

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