Q&A: Paying for a Bus Ride When the System Is Broken
Paying for a Bus Ride When the System Is Broken
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
I ran into a situation and didn’t know how to act:
The payment system on the bus broke down, and the driver let people on and said there was no way to pay.
Nowadays there’s an option to pay באמצעות an app, but at the moment it seems that most people pay with the Rav-Kav card.
The question is: was I supposed to pay with the app even though most people don’t normally do that, and people got a free ride?
Most people have a smartphone, so you can’t really say that the payment system is inaccessible to them.
What do you think?
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. If you rode, you have to pay. That’s all.
Discussion on Answer
Thank you, Rabbi, for the answer.
Thank you, Judah, for bringing the law.
So Rabbi, if I understand correctly, the proper thing is indeed to pay, but the law exempts me?
I didn’t read it. In monetary matters, the law is binding under dina de-malkhuta dina.
All systems require you to act according to their accepted basis of operation.
The passenger isn’t responsible for the fact that they decided to cancel the option of buying paper tickets.
The responsibility is on the system operators, not on the passenger.
You don’t need to look for clever ways to pay, unless you had intended from the outset to use an app for that purpose.
Why should the passenger have to look for ways to pay when they eliminated the simplest and most basic way to pay?
What about the hassle involved?
That’s my opinion, and I’m not a rabbi or a halakhic decisor.
יש ללחוץ כדי לגשת אל %D7%A0%D7%95%D7%94%D7%9C%20%D7%90%D7%95%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9D%20%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D.pdf
See here, section 6.1.2.9.2, that according to the law one is exempt from paying.