On a lazy Sunday afternoon, what I thought would be a no-hassle DART ride to the zoo turned out to be the opposite.
Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way that the to college student ticket does not apply for all college students.
Being students at Southern Methodist University, my friend Devin and I assumed we were eligible for the college student DART pass to ride the train to the Dallas Zoo and back from Mockingbird Station and saw nowhere explaining the details of the student ticket. I went ahead and purchased two day passes, $2.50 each instead of the regular $5 and we hopped on the red line train.
After riding the train for five minutes, the DART police came around to check tickets. We handed the woman our tickets and handed her our SMU IDs.
Right away we were met with hostility and the DART cop began berating us for having purchased the wrong tickets and that SMU students aren’t eligible to purchase the college student pass. After trying to explain our situation and that it was an honest mistake, we only got yelled at more and both given $50 citations for a $2.50 difference, and werekicked off the train.
I went home extremely frustrated that such an easy mistake can cost someone such a large fine. I went on the DART website to look up the details of the college student ticket, where it says at the bottom of the page that SMU and UTD students do not qualify for reduced fare passes. If SMU students want to get a discounted ticket they have to go through the Business Service office, but this is for an annual transit pass rather than a one-time ticket.
Although this information is available online, it is not stated at the ticket machine. How are students supposed to know that they don’t qualify for a college student ticket without going online first?
I know my friend and I were not the only ones that made the mistake of thinking we qualify for the student ticket. After discussing my situation with my reporting class, everyone else in my class had purchased the student ticket as well, yet none of them had their tickets checked. Clearly this is an easy mistake to make, since most college students would assume they would qualify for a college student ticket. Why is the fine so expensive for a little mistake, which only is a few dollars difference?
If DART is going to be so strict on the student ticket with such high fines, they should clearly state what schools qualify for the student ticket and what proper identification is needed at the stations and not just online.
Lindee is a junior majoring in communications.
