RAILforum: Don't Ask, But You Can Tell

This is topic Don't Ask, But You Can Tell in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.railforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/11/4895.html

Posted by Kiernan (Member # 3828) on :

I just got back from a trip to California and I discovered that the conductors can no longer ask if you're a senior citizen when you buy a ticket on the train. The conversation when I bought my ticket from Surf to Santa Barbara on the train went something like this:

CONDUCTOR: Could I see your ID please?
ME: Sure
I hand her my driver's license.
CONDUCTOR: I can't see your birthdate. The year.
I think for a moment.
ME: I still have a couple of years to go before I'm a senior.
CONDUCTOR: Oh. OK. We're not allowed to ask.

I suppose it could be difficult, not to say dangerous, if you asked some people about their senior citizen status. I remember that the ticket agent at Hanford had the right idea. He never asked anyone if they were a senior citizen, he'd put it in monetary terms.

"If you want to be a senior citizen today I can knock ten percent off the ticket price." And he'd usually throw in a "darlin'" for the women. We can all get behind a voluntary ten percent price reduction.

Just a reminder that you have to tell, they can't ask.

Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :

I have never been challenged when riding Amtrak on a Senior Citizen rate. Guess my face does it all.

However, to purchase a half fare Senior Citizen ticket on METRA, they want to see either an RTA (Chicago's mass transit oversight agency) issued ID or a Medicare card and other photo ID. This applies for both the purchase and lift.

However, two weeks ago, the Metro North agent at Stamford "just took my word" for a half off Senior ticket, nor was any ID asked for on train.

I guess METRA is more "stickier" than other agencies.

Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :

I've just spent a week and a half in Canada, whose discounts for seniors are VERY good -- far better than those in the U.S. Wasn't asked to prove I was 65 or over -- they just take our word for it.

Guess those Canadians do a lot more on the honor system than we do. In the couple of days we were in Vancouver, we rode all over -- the SkyTrain, AquaBus, etc. -- using a $8 day pass. We did not have to show the passes or run them through a slot anywhere. Of course, if the transit cops ask you to show a ticket but you don't have one, the fine is $175. That seems low to me. In Chicago, where I live, the penalties for cheating a honor system would have to be much greater in order to give sufficient incentive to stay honest -- at least $500 and maybe $1,000 and the threat of a jail stay for serial abusers.

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

When I managed movie theaters we didn't ask either. People can and do take great offense if you offer a senior discount when they look eligible but they really aren't. One manager I worked with had a woman shoot back "I'll have you know I'm fifty-five!" (The discount was for 60+)It wasn't a matter of company policy, it was more a matter of personal safety!

Posted by 4021North (Member # 4081) on :

The need to be polite notwithstanding, I think it's all rather silly, because age (or nationality, etc.)is nothing to be ashamed of.

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Toy:
When I managed movie theaters we didn't ask either. People can and do take great offense if you offer a senior discount when they look eligible but they really aren't. One manager I worked with had a woman shoot back "I'll have you know I'm fifty-five!" (The discount was for 60+)It wasn't a matter of company policy, it was more a matter of personal safety!

This sort of super thin-skinned-ness is hard to fathom. Cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind. I guess that if people will spend megabucks on cosmetic surgery to keep looking young, paying extra to avoid revealing your age also makes sense. Like my now departed mother-in-law used to say: "There is only one way to avoid old age. Die young."

Posted by Railroad Bill (Member # 5097) on :

My experience has been: the younger the clerk, the older I become [Smile]

If the agent is under 30, I must look like I am over 60. But if the agent is 40+ or so, I usually am questioned if I get a senior discount. Since I am only 55 I usually tell them " I am getting closer everyday [Smile]

Age doesnt really matter, its how old you think you are.
[Razz]

Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :

As somebody who is 55, but was described in a radio transmission by an Amtrak employee as an "elderly" passenger (I was at that time leaning on a cane, due to a slow-healing foot injury), I sometimes get touchy. But when the clerk at Wendy's or the clerk at the Reading Terminal produce market gives me the "senior discount", I don't argue.