Thinking she was in compliance, a traveler was caught in a real “blind spot” in Parisian transport… because of a rule misinterpreted by SNCF controllers. A rather common situation, which causes a lot of reaction.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” This is the bitter observation shared by Edwige, a well-followed psychiatric nurse and couples therapist under the pseudonym @wicul_, after being trapped by a subtlety in Parisian transport. With his partner, their 4-month-old baby and their dog, and in the middle of a heatwave, they exit the metro at Gare de Lyon station to reach Austerlitz station, where they must take their train. “We have our metro tickets, our train tickets, and even our dog’s SNCF ticket.”specifies the young woman.
Despite this, the family received a fine of 35 euros: “The motive? Without animal ticket. Except I had already bought his train ticket.” Dogs do indeed travel for free on the metro, but “between the metro exit and the station entrance, there is an SNCF ‘controlled zone’. in which his little dog should have been provided with a special ticket. A space of barely ten meters, where this rule is not indicated anywhere. “This is completely absurd.”protests Edwige, joined by many travelers facing the same situation.
Indeed, his case is far from isolated. “The controllers explain to us that they issue dozens of fines like this in this area. So they know that travelers don’t know this rule.”she says, also explaining that she received “hundreds of testimonials” similar in reaction to his story. “I have read the stories of pregnant women, young parents, students, people in precarious circumstances… Many say they have paid fines after being confronted with a regulation or jargon that they did not understand, being convinced that they were at fault”laments the young woman, “angry” for being treated like a fraud”in front of everyone”.
The day after its publication, the nurse was contacted by the National Director of Crisis Communication of the SNCF, who confirmed that her fine “had no place to be” because it would be a “bad interpretation” of the rule in force by the controllers. Indeed, as the railway company explained to 20 Minutesthe area in question is shared between several carriers, namely SNCF, but also RATP and the Transilien network. And everyone has their own rules.
“Checks on animal tickets are not recommended because it is difficult to assess where travelers are coming from.”therefore specifies the company, which nevertheless pleads for “the good faith of its agents” who were not aware of this instruction. However, an internal investigation was opened. Isn’t it also perhaps because SNCF controllers receive bonuses for each fine?
In any case, Edwige will indeed be reimbursed following this error, although she will not be “not completely satisfied” of the SNCF response. Because if this affair ends well for her, the regulatory vagueness of these shared spaces continues to hover over the heads (and wallets) of thousands of daily users.
