Article: Public transport fines reap $4.5 million

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Public transport fines reap $4.5 million

Public transport fines reap $4.5 million

    by: Robyn Ironside
    From: The Courier-Mail
    December 05, 2011 12:00AM

NEARLY 22,000 Queenslanders have been fined more than $4.5 million on the state's public transport system this year, for offences ranging from train surfing to putting feet on seats.

Statistics obtained by The Courier-Mail under Right to Information laws show fare evasion was the most common offence, with close to 17,000 people fined for travelling without paying the correct fare. Another 914 people were fined for failing to produce a ticket.

But dozens more were fined for obscure offences including allowing an animal on to a railway, consuming food or drink on a train, putting their feet on the seats and riding on the outside of rolling stock (train surfing).

Most offenders were aged between 16 and 24 years, six people aged between 70 and 74 were fined and three were aged 75 or over.

The Logan suburb of Woodridge was home to the greatest number of public transport outlaws, with 984 fines issued to people in the 4114 postcode, followed by Caboolture (4510) with 860 offenders, then Ipswich (4305) with 712.

Robert Dow from commuter advocacy group Back on Track said the large number of fare evaders was disappointing.

"It's understandable that people perceive that the fares are very expensive," Mr Dow said. "I think the authorities need to step up their education campaign with go card to help counter fare evasion."

He said a revision of the "conditions of use" for go card would help address the issue.

Translink's acting CEO Matt Longland said infringements issued to commuters were up by 267 on the previous year, which he attributed to the greater enforcement effort.

"Additional uniform presence on the network during the 2010/11 financial year included 20 senior network officers whose role is to enhance customer safety on the public transport network, as well as revenue protection," Mr Longland said.

He said the fines issued for people aged 75 and over were for smoking, fare evasion and parking offences.

A Queensland Rail spokesman said reducing anti-social behaviour remained a priority.

"In the past year, QR introduced a number of new measures to enhance security including a $3.3 million CCTV camera upgrade, 11 mobile security dog patrol teams, 10 extra police officers to the Railway Squad and an upgrade of our electronic recording forensic unit," he said.

[awotam]

""Additional uniform presence on the network during the 2010/11 financial year ... "
Huh?!? Where?!? 
I can only remember seeing a transit officer on the train once all this year. They are completely non-existent at peak times when they're needed most.

[SurfRail]

""Additional uniform presence on the network during the 2010/11 financial year ... "
Huh?!? Where?!? 
I can only remember seeing a transit officer on the train once all this year. They are completely non-existent at peak times when they're needed most.

If anything, I would not expect to see them about in the peak, where the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.  Off-peak users tend to apply their own personal discounts a bit more freely.

[somebody]

A possible exception to that might be South Bank station which is ungated and may see a number of people taking liberties with not tagging off.

[p858snake]

I only saw them this year when that article about their Quotas came out, before that it was like only once. (And I rarely ever travel in peak)

[Cam]

They are completely non-existent at peak times when they're needed most.

When they are really needed is on a Thursday night on the Ipswich Line when a group of wasted individuals arrive at a station between Darra & Ipswich -  usually between 11pm & midnight. The group regularly damage property & wake up much of the community as they stagger to the railway station yelling expletives at the top of their voices. Fortunately, I do not travel on the service that these individuals catch every 2nd or 3rd Thursday night.

The following is slightly off topic but I think it's important enough to mention here.

There is little proactive policing in the Ipswich command area when it is needed most because of the lack of police numbers. I regularly listen to police radio so I know how understaffed the local police are in the evenings until about midnight - particularly on Thursdays to Sundays.

The local state member is in denial about such problems & has stated words to the effect of "No, there's not a problem in ....... anymore" Well, local member, the local community knows differently.

The local newsagent told me that when one of the local MP's newspapers went missing on a Saturday morning, there were regular police patrols afterwards in the MP's residential street. Despite many calls to police over a couple of years, the streets around our local railway station still do not have any regular patrols when they are needed at night - particularly Thursday nights. It seems that there are insufficient police numbers to do so.

The official statistics may show that crime in Ipswich is on the decrease, but in 3 out of the 6 categories of reported crime, Ipswich recently ranked lowest in the state for clear up rates. You can't solve crime if you are too busy attending to other reported crimes.

[HappyTrainGuy]

They can do very little during peak besides waiting next to the readers/exits on island platforms or travelling in the counter peak direction. What I'd like to see is less 'hired' security but with more of the railway squad making a visual appearance (Remember they don't have the power to check tickets but they have greater powers than the SNOs/TOs and can also club and taser you as they are the police ) working with SNOs/TOs at night time.

[somebody]

They can do very little during peak besides waiting next to the readers/exits on island platforms or travelling in the counter peak direction. What I'd like to see is less 'hired' security but with more of the railway squad making a visual appearance (Remember they don't have the power to check tickets but they have greater powers than the SNOs/TOs and can also club and taser you as they are the police ) working with SNOs/TOs at night time.

I don't see why police shouldn't have the power to check tickets.  In fact, I am sure that police have attempted to check my ticket at Milton, albeit without a Go Card reader.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Its not the police job to inspect tickets. Thats why there are SNOs and TOs.

[somebody]

Its not the police job to inspect tickets.

Why not?  Police are generalist law enforcement agents.  TOs and SNOs are specialists.

[Golliwog]

I don't think Police should ever be tasked to check tickets and should be tasked elsewhere doing patrols and other police-y work. However, they should have the ability to do so, as it could often be a case of right place right time when they're out on the beat.

[achiruel]

From what I've been told by a regular traveler (wife), there are almost never TOs on LCBS buses, with the exception of the 555.  And she reckons they need some!