Lorton VRE Station

#DontRideVRE This is the same thing that happened to me except I was running late because of a full parking lot. Saw the conductor and told him, like they say to… summons! Egregious, should not be legal.

I’m a fairly new rider and had gotten a monthly pass before and this month got a couple ten ride passes. Not being used to validating, I realized as the doors were closing that I forgot to validate. I went to the conductor and showed him my ticket and told him I forgot. I offered to get off at the next station or at my stop and validate my ticket as I was not trying to cheat the VRE. He took my license and issued me a summons for $ 100 and court costs. I could have been like a lot of others and waited to see if he checked tickets or hoped he didn’t notice, but I tried to be honest and boy did he give me a real reward for my honesty!!! You would think that you could get a warning the first time. I keep forgetting I’m not in Indiana anymore and it sure doesn’t pay to be honest here. If you have a car, I suggest driving. One mistake can be very very costly!!! Someone told me court costs are $ 80, so because I wasn’t feeling well and forgot to validate one time and was honest about it, looks like it’s going to cost me $ 180. Now that the government has lowered the transportation benefit, it’s certainly not worth it.