Talking about loosing fares..
I was there in Charlotte for 2 weeks by the end of September and we took the Blue line to downtown charlotte. Can't remember which station we got in, but we couldn't figure out how to get the tickets for our journey. The machine did everything, but it didn't send the payment information to the card machine. There wasn't a single member of staff in the platform, so our conclusion was that the ticket machine was broken (The 2nd machine was off).
We tried until the train arrived. We had to take the train in fear of being caught and handed a penalty fee later in a different stop.
Coming from London, it's really weird if you can get away without paying the fares. And also, I'm used to staff in the stations in case any problem arises, people can always get an answer or guide.