A homeless man launched a campaign of vandalism on tram ticket machines across Nottingham after he broke the screens by kicking them.
Hunar Mohammed damaged seven machines in just over three months - leaving just one working at the busy Forest Recreation Ground stop and none at the Radford Road stop.
The cost was estimated to be between £16,000 and £18,000, and the impact on customers was "severe" after they were left unable to buy tickets or top up smart cards.
Extra staff had to be drafted in to assist passengers at peak periods, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
Mohammed, 24, of no fixed address, was sent to prison for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to seven charges of causing criminal damage between December 29 last year and January 3 this year.
Judge Steven Coupland watched CCTV of a lone Mohammed kicking the machines and told him: "I have just seen you going up deliberately to each machine, kicking it and breaking the screen.
"This was mindless, senseless damage, causing considerable inconvenience and cost to other people.
"At the time you committed these offences, you were alone and homeless in the city. You report no mental health difficulties.
"I'm not asked to adjourn for a report to investigate whether there are any, so I will deal with you on the basis there is no good reason for you acting in this way."
But Mohammed told the judge from the dock the screen protection was one centimetre away and insisted "the machine isn't broken. The screen has cracked, but still the machine was working".
Prosecutor Edie Leonard said Mohammed, who had a previous conviction for possessing a bladed article, and kicking in a glass door at Ladbrokes, had walked up to the machines and kicked the panel on the front.
"The loss was between £16,000 and £18,000," she said.
Adam Walker, travel supervisor for NET, gave a business impact statement in the witness box, saying what happened impacted on customer's ability to buy tickets and top up smart cards.
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The judge told Mohammed Mr Walker had given evidence about the "effect of what you did" and how it had a "severe impact on customers trying to use the tram network".
"It left one working ticket machine at the Forest Recreation Ground stop and none at Radford Road," he added.
The court heard, in mitigation, the defendant came to the UK from Iraq in 2016, and told his lawyer he has "no legal right to be in the UK" and had lived a "rather transient life".
He briefly had accommodation but was homeless at the time of the offences.
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