A West Island man is out $350 after overpaying for the wrong train ticket

A West Island man accidentally bought the wrong Exo train ticket and lost hundreds of dollars – more than he should have paid for.

William Mattsson says he's in a hurry one day in October 2022. The then 19-year-old was traveling from the West Island to an Alouettes game in downtown Montreal.

“I made the mistake of buying a ticket (for the endless party), which is more expensive than a one-way trip downtown,” Mattsson, now 22, said.

He tried to explain to the inspector that he had mistakenly bought a $5.76 night ticket instead of a $3.50 day ticket. Initially, the inspector told Mattsson that he would receive a reduced fine, but he did not.

“A day or two or a week later, we get the ticket in the mail, and it's $272 for the full ticket,” he said.

Mattsson mistakenly bought a $5.76 night ticket instead of a $3.50 day ticket (Kelly Greig/CTV News)His mother, Andrea Laliberte, kept all the documents showing that he had paid for the ticket. According to him, this is a simple mistake that is now escalating.

“Machines are confusing. If you're in a real rush, you have to scroll over and over to find (the right fare). And you've got Zones A, Zones B,” he said. “We bought a night ticket twice instead of a day ticket. So it's easy to do.”

The Exo train service said its inspectors were correct, CTV News said in a statement: “The person would have noticed that the ticket was not validated because the red light would have been on at the terminal.

“It is important to mention that our trains operate on a paid and honorary basis as there are no turnstiles on the train platforms,” ​​he added.

William Mattsson waits for the train (Kelly Greig/CTV News)Mattsson tried to fight the ticket, but says he was never notified of one of the court dates, meaning a $3.50 ride now costs about $350.

“I just – I can't even,” Laliberte said. “He paid another $2 for the ticket, and now he's paying a $350 fine at the end of the day.”

“I was furious,” added Mattsson, “Even my mother screamed and freaked out a bit … we were all very shocked and upset.”

Mattsson wants to warn others about how easy it is to make this mistake.

“My hands are tied here. I can't do anything but pay the ticket,” he said.