Differences

I was riding the train home last night after the Fringe Parade and overheard a conversation between a tipsy man and the ticket inspector. The inspector was issuing him a verbal warning for not validating the ticket on the train.

"Sorry. I'm from Sydney," the man said, confused. Pretty much the go to line for anyone on any form of public transport when these kind of things happen. "I validated when I went through the gates at the station?"

The ticket inspector proceeded to kindly explain that in Adelaide you need to validate your ticket twice, both when entering the station and when you're on the train. Then, as the ticket inspecting was pretty much done, he went on into a longer discussion with the man about the differences between Adelaide's public transport ticketing system and Sydney's. The main was a little bleary eyed, but he didn't have a smartphone that I could see, so he nodded along.

I couldn't help listening in too. The inspector seemed knowledgeable and he passionately explained about our zones and peak/inter-peak timings and how Adelaide had a smartcard system years before Sydney did. His speech to this guy was building up some real momentum.

"The other different thing about trains in Adelaide and Sydney," he was saying, before a woman passenger a few seats back stood up and yelled, "Hey," at the inspector.

Everyone turned to see what she would say. She asked the inspector, "Is your name Mathew? We went to Primary School together."