Tokenism

When Donald Pirone saw that a fellow MARTA rider was having trouble with a token vending machine, he figured he'd be helpful. He gave the man a token, but the man insisted on paying him face value for it. Unfortunately, an Atlanta transit policeman saw the exchange, and he handcuffed and arrested Pirone for selling the token. It seems state law bars people from selling MARTA tokens, even at face value. MARTA says the officers did the right thing. "There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," said spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker.