Elderly people are humiliated to save subway funds

Recently, pensioners have been allowed into the St. Petersburg subway only through two or three turnstiles closest to the controller. The innovation immediately caused heated debate. Metro management says it has now become easier to control access to discount passes. Passengers are unhappy - during rush hours, huge traffic jams accumulate at the turntables. The debate continues, and congestion at the metro entrance is growing. On this occasion, pensioner Boris Petrovich Tyulenev turned to the “Public Reception of the Baltic Media Group”.

Boris Petrovich lives on Turistskaya Street, in the Primorsky district. The nearest metro station is Staraya Derevnya. It is not one of the busiest, but even here there are traffic jams near the turnstiles for pensioners during peak hours. People stand in a dense angry crowd, where everyone is ready to boil from the awareness of the injustice that is happening, from impotent indignation - what is this humiliation for? Every now and then squabbles break out, someone pushes someone, young athletes try to squeeze in between elderly women and men, sweeping away everything in their path. They don't know that they have to go through other turnstiles. An ordinary passenger can choose any turntable, but a pensioner with a discount card must move only through strictly defined three, or at best four. It is simply useless to attach a document to the rest - the information is not read.

As Boris Petrovich rightly believes, pensioners need to be provided with more turnstiles. And in general: any person should have the right to pass through any turnstile, regardless of social status. Dividing people into categories in this case is generally unfair and wrong, no matter what goals they try to justify this division.

The Metro's management says: the beneficiaries themselves are to blame for the fact that special turntables had to be invented for them. They say that they too often give their travel cards to family and friends, and this is considered an administrative offense. When a pensioner is issued a discount card, he signs an agreement that he will not transfer it to other people. But in practice, they pass it on. Some elderly married couples generally issue one travel card per family and take turns traveling on it, and take money instead of the second one. That’s why the number of turnstiles for beneficiaries was limited - it’s easier to catch people using someone else’s travel documents when they go through three turnstiles, and not through all of them.

The problem is acute, so this summer the metro has strengthened measures to check all types of travel documents and even introduced so-called manual control. People with validators appeared at subway stations, reading information from cards: who owns it, what is the age of the owner. The data is compared with those indicated in the documents of the person presenting the travel card. Pensioners must take such documents with them on a trip - a passport or pension certificate. During the check, it sometimes turns out that the travel card is someone else’s.

A Vecherka correspondent once witnessed such an incident. An elderly man walked through the turnstile for pensioners with a backpack over his shoulders. Apparently he was returning from the dacha, bringing home gifts of nature. Behind the turntable, the man was stopped by an “essay guy” with a validator. I checked his card. I looked carefully.

- You look rather bad, Olga Ivanovna! — he joked with a serious face, taking the confused pensioner aside...

The Metropolitan press service reports that in June alone, the number of confiscated travel documents amounted to almost two thousand two hundred, and the lost income for the month on these documents exceeded a million rubles. People with someone else’s travel cards can be added to the “gray list” and, if the offense is repeated, the discount card can be confiscated.

Manual control takes more time, so congestion at the turnstiles is growing by leaps and bounds this summer. And no arguments, no millions of rubles saved or, conversely, lost by the Metro, can justify the fact that all passengers have to suffer. Probably in all megacities the metro suffers losses due to all sorts of violations with travel documents, but in no civilized country in the world are ordinary citizens forced to pay for this with their time and nerves.

“How long can you bully older people? - an Internet user addresses the head of the St. Petersburg metro on one of the forums dedicated to transport problems. — Why did you come up with an action to check discount cards in the metro when passing through the turnstile? It’s a pity to look at elderly, sick people when they are not allowed on the subway. What, isn’t it clear from them that they are pensioners and beneficiaries? This is outrageous and dishonest of you. When will the card checking outrage stop?”

There are tons of similar requests on the Internet. So Boris Petrovich Tyulenev, who contacted the “Public Reception of the Baltic Media Group”, touched upon a truly pressing urban problem. And the management of the city subway will have to answer how they are going to solve it. On August 10, an official request from OP BMG was sent to the head of the St. Petersburg Metro, Vladimir Garyugin. The answer from the metro administration has not yet come, but it is probably already being prepared. By law, responsible persons must send it within a month. Whatever it turns out to be, we will work to resolve the problem.

Manual control and purchase of travel cards: problems

Unfortunately, most of us have to deal with the subway almost every day. There may be many things you don't like about it - it's a subjective matter. But hardly anyone is delighted with the rude attitude of controllers that has become the rule and norm. Receiving a “kick” in the legs from the turntable of the access machine, we also hear “student ID!”, or something else like this: “You have to show your student ID!! How long can you talk?!” It's annoying, isn't it?

In general, what is the essence of manual control? What is the “fun” of the so-called automatic cards in this case?? And does she even see the photo in your student photo or maybe see how valid it is? Of course not, and she doesn’t need it!! God… The main thing is to let me shout.

Well, these are emotions. Now the second case that finally brought me out and forced me to rummage through the legislation in search of an answer and consolation. This is an acquisition, more precisely extension of the student single ticket. We had magnetic cards and we lived in peace - a card, a student card and money - and you got a ticket.
Gave it to us smart cards(so-called “smart” cards). OK. They took the money and screwed it up. God bless him. But when I went to get it for the first time, they told me “passport”. I am a patient person - the next day I came with my passport. I rode quietly for a month.
It's time to renew. I give the usual set: smart card, student card, money and hear “passport”. I couldn’t stand it here. “But there’s my last name and photograph!! Here’s a student’s card. Not enough???” - I was surprised. " I can’t do it without a passport!!!" was the answer.

This, excuse me, is absurd! Who said that a student's card is not an identity document? Although this issue may be controversial. Well, what about a driver's license? Yes, there is a presidential decree according to which the passport is recognized as the main identification document, but this does not mean at all that it is the only one!

Well, let’s not discuss this topic now - you will see that this is not necessary at all.

“I can’t do it without a passport.” We read the answer in the Order of the Transport Committee of the Administration of St. Petersburg dated June 24, 2002 N 81-r “On approval of the Temporary Regulations on the procedure for the sale, circulation, use and control of tickets based on contactless smart cards for students of secondary specialized educational institutions and students institutions of higher education": When selling travel tickets at metro ticket offices, Students present their student ID and BSC(contactless smart card). When reading the BSK in the cash register, the Student’s data is authorized in the database and his right to purchase a Travel Ticket is checked (clause 3.1). Moreover, this is also supplemented by clause 3.12: The student is denied the sale of a Travel Ticket for the next validity period and the BSC coding if:

Presentation of BSK that is on the list of prohibited for use;

If the information in the metro database does not correspond to the data presented at the student ticket office, BSK;

If the registered documents (student ID, BSK) do not correspond to the identity of the bearer.

Like this! So now you can calmly shout and threaten the administration.

Now " You must show your student ID!! How long can you talk?!". Clause 3.13 of the same order gives an answer that satisfies us: If the station has the mode " Manual control of student travel tickets", then a red cross lights up on the turnstile display. In this case, the Student must approach the metro controller, present your travel card and after checking, go through the manual control point.

And who is that evil aunt after this?? Swear back! :)

By the way, although there are no problems with this (even with magnetic cards), when controlling fares on city ground passenger transport, the Student is required to have a paper ticket for the current month with the BSK attachment (clause 4.1) - note, without the student’s ticket.

Holders magnetic cards Don't be upset either. For them, the Order of the Transport Committee of the Administration of St. Petersburg dated April 27, 2002 N 45-“On improving the procedure for the sale and use of travel tickets for pupils and students” applies. Here, When purchasing a magnetic card for the first time you need a passport(clause 2.2), and in subsequent ones no longer(clause 2.3)! But with this card, unfortunately, you will have to present a student card in ground transport and during manual control in the metro (clauses 3.1 and 3.2).

Like this. Know your rights and defend yourself... with angry shouts and threats. ;)