Red Tape Hot Box on subway tickets
However, you do not have a ticket (let's say you don't use public transport very often). What do you do? In most, if not all, European capitals that would be a ridiculous question since ticket machines can be found at every subway station. Well, not in Warsaw, where kiosks close at 10 p.m. at the latest, and where ticket machines were removed a few years ago (these machines had a tendency to take the coins in, but had trouble giving out tickets). The only machine you can find at the average Warsaw metro station (there aren't too many of them) is the one where you can charge your City Card. Most Varsovians probably have cards, but what about tourists or those who rarely use public transport? All they can do in such a situation is pray that the kanary (ticket inspectors) are asleep. Oh, I almost forgot, there is a solution. There are kiosks at the Central Railway Station that are open 24 hours a day. Only how are tourists supposed to know that? And those Varsovians unfortunate enough not to have their ticket would probably risk riding the subway without one rather than explore the underground passages near Central Station at night.
Considering the pace at which the underground is being built in this city, one would think that maybe the reason for this is that the administration wants everything to be in perfect trim. The stations are indeed very nice (and very costly as well) and it seems that there aren't enough funds left to furnish the stations with ticket machines. Warsaw cannot be compared to London or Paris, but we can compare it to Prague. Tourists have absolutely no problem buying tickets there, even late at night. Somehow, the Czechs can do it and that's despite the fact that the metro in Prague has three lines rather than one (still unfinished).
Maybe there's a point in not providing the city with ticket machines - all those caught fare-dodging must pay a fine. The more people get caught, the higher the income. If that's the hidden intention, then let's just hope that this money will be spent on finally finishing the first metro line; and on supplying it with ticket machines, of course.
Considering the pace at which the underground is being built in this city, one would think that maybe the reason for this is that the administration wants everything to be in perfect trim. The stations are indeed very nice (and very costly as well) and it seems that there aren't enough funds left to furnish the stations with ticket machines. Warsaw cannot be compared to London or Paris, but we can compare it to Prague. Tourists have absolutely no problem buying tickets there, even late at night. Somehow, the Czechs can do it and that's despite the fact that the metro in Prague has three lines rather than one (still unfinished).
Maybe there's a point in not providing the city with ticket machines - all those caught fare-dodging must pay a fine. The more people get caught, the higher the income. If that's the hidden intention, then let's just hope that this money will be spent on finally finishing the first metro line; and on supplying it with ticket machines, of course.
