Getting Ticketed in Melbourne Public Transportation

Belum genap 2 minggu hidup di sini, saya udah kena tilang hahaha tp kena tilangnya di public transport loh..

It was 27th of February when I decided to go to the Surau Kita, one of the bases for the Indonesian Muslim Community of Victoria. I went there for my first halaqah in Melbourne. I admit It was a bad idea to go alone in a new neighborhood, especially since it was your very first time there. Surau Kita is actually kind of far from my apartment (you can see it on the map). I need to take the tram to Renown Street and walk by to get to Surau Kita. But I decided to take the risk since it was hard to find friends for Islamic events those days and I believe that Allah would protect me tho.

In the morning, I went to the tram stop early at 8.30 AM (You barely see the sunrise at that time). I took the tram from Queen Victoria Market tram stop and went to the North Coburg using tram number 19. QVM is actually a free tram zone. So when I took the tram I was kind of unsure whether I should touch on a card or not. Because when you touch on, it will be charged $0 at free tram zone while I shouldn't be bcs I want to stop in a nonfree tram zone, so I need to pay. I decided not to touch on, but planning to touch off when I arrived at north coburg.

   

So before going to the storytelling session, I'll tell a brief explanation about public transportation in Melbourne. We have trams, like trains but usually, just operate around Melbourne. They are also way shorter than a train, usually consisting of one or two cars only. In Melbourne, to use public transport whether it is a tram, train, or bus, you'll need myki card with enough amount of balance. After you get into the transportation, there'll be a tapping machine, you need to touch on the machine inside the transportation (the station for the train) and pufffff.. your balance will be automatically deducted. You're actually not required to touch on in order to get into the tram. In addition, there's no security inside it, so basically people will need to fight with their morals to choose whether to follow the rules, touch on, and lose money, or people can get a free ride with moral burdens. At least that WAS what I knew at first before this trip.

However, after deciding to take the tram that morning, I learned something. The very first thing was that PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION POLICE DOES EXIST.  Well, they actually call it "Authorised Officer". So in the middle of the journey to the north coburg, a group of "police" entered the tram. They asked the passengers to hand in their myki card and they kind of like tapping it in a checker machine (?). I think the machine checked histories of tapping on our cards. And..... crap I didn't touch on. Because I didn't touch on, the last history in my card was yesterday and I was considered an illegal passenger in the tram today. In the end, they ticketed me. They asked for many details about me, including why I didn't touch on, and told me that they will send mail to my address. The mail might be a fine, warning, or courtyard call. Which one I'd receive, they don't know yet, needed time to decide and check my data first. I was very shocked because I checked the website, and the fine for the violation was $200. All the time on the road I just pray it's just a warning because I had spent so much money on the hospital. Here's what the warning ticket looks like.

The second thing I learned is that, we need to always touch on when using the tram. If you ride the tram in the free tram zone, then touch on when you're exactly one stop after the tram zone. But if you ride and stop in the free tram zone, you don't need to touch on at all. In fact, when you touch on, your balance will be $0 deducted (I'm unsure, but it's based on my experience).

I tried to reach out to some people in Melbourne and asked about this situation, whether I'd receive a fine or not. They ensured me that I might just receive a warning since it was my very first getting a ticket and it was due to a misunderstanding of the system. In addition, usually, a fine was billed in place. It was a bit relieving but still, I felt anxious since I didn't know it for sure. One of my friends, a resident of Melbourne, told me she once was ticketed and received a letter of warning a week or two weeks later. What makes me anxious the most was I haven't received the mail even after three weeks. I'm kind of afraid they got it in the wrong address or something.

Back to the story, a walk to Surau Kita is nice and challenging, the cold weather, lonely road, and drunk person. The tram ride took 30 minutes to the North Coburg station. Well, I planned to take off at Renown Street but I missed the stop because the officer kept interrogating me. I took a walk to Surau Kita from the North Coburg tram stop. I was surprised by how quiet the road in North Coburg was. I needed to check my back several times to make sure someone was not following me because it was actually kind of scary tho. Biidznillah, I made it to Surau Kita. I had halaqah and met many Indonesian people, many of them were living in Australia for years and even became permanent residents. They also provided nasi padang!!! It tasted so good tbh, love it.

On my way back home, in the tram, there was one drunk person, asking people for money. I was annoyed and tense because I'm afraid he'd make a commotion or annoy me. All the time I was just looking at the window and ignoring the drunk person so that he'd not annoy me. Alhamdulillah, I came back home safe.

By the way, today I opened the mail box and guesss whaat, I finally received the warning letter. IT IS ONLY A WARNING, Alhamdulillah.... Although a warning is also something I should be concerned about, at least I don't need to pay fines, Biidznillah. Need to be more careful next time~