Article: Connex fine blitz reaps $2.5m

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Connex fine blitz reaps $2.5m

Connex fine blitz reaps $2.5m
Article from: Herald Sun

Ashley Gardiner

May 11, 2009 12:00am

A TICKET-checking crackdown by Connex has raked in an extra $2.5 million in fines for the State Government.

The rail operator has trialled a new system of flooding trouble spots with ticket inspectors.

As a result, the number of fines issued on the train system last year soared by about 50 per cent.

Last October, Connex staff checked 517,618 tickets and issued 10,954 reports.

The company must check a minimum of 200,000 tickets a month under its contract with the State Government.

Last year $7.9 million was collected as the result of offences on Connex, up from $5.4 million the previous year.

By contrast, $5.6 million was raked in through Yarra Trams, which was $300,000 less than the previous year.

The expansion of ticket checking on V/Line has seen the fines collected soar from just $205 in 2007 to almost $8600 last year.

Connex spokeswoman Lanie Harris said the new system was introduced in February last year to make more efficient use of inspectors.

"(This) enables us to target our staff where they are needed at various times during the day to address priority needs," Ms Harris said.

Connex has rostered inspectors according to the times and locations when fare evasion was a problem, she said.

"The movement to task based deployment has improved safety across the network, and has helped to reduce fare evasion."

Connex gathers information from the public, staff and police to decide which areas to target.

Information gathered by the company last October led to a blitz on the Sandringham line between Prahran and Elsternwick during November.

Ms Harris said inspectors had made more reports, but as a proportion of tickets checked, fare evasion had gone down.

"The increase in the number of reports is also roughly comparable to the passenger growth."