A scientist who implanted the chip from his electronic public transport card under his skin was fined in an Australian court on Friday for not being able to produce his ticket.
The eccentric 34-year-old, who changed his legal name to Meow-Ludo Disco to Gamma Meow-Meow, had correctly scanned his travel card chip which was implanted in his hand and had paid for his journey.
However, when a ticket inspector asked him to produce his Opal travel card, he was charged with traveling without a valid travel card and also for failing to produce a valid ticket for inspection.
The court fined him 220 Australian dollars and ordered him to pay court costs of 1,000 dollars.
The Transport Department warned passengers not to tamper with their travel cards which are used to tap at electronic gates on platforms so that the fare can be charged.
Outside the court, Meow-Meow said he was disappointed but was exploring other options that would allow him to use an implanted chip to pay for train travel.
“New technology can be scary if you don’t understand it.
“People have been scared of lots of technologies when they come along.
“This is the next evolution from going from paper tickets to Opal cards to something which means we don’t have to actually carry anything at all,” Meow-Meow said.(dpa/NAN)