Article: Fare evasion blitz snares thousands

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Fare evasion blitz snares thousands

Fare evasion blitz snares thousands
Reid Sexton
May 29, 2012

METRO ticket inspectors are issuing 5000 more fines each month than a year ago, generating millions of dollars in extra revenue as part of a major crackdown on fare evaders.

The blitz comes after an internal report obtained by The Age confirmed fare evasion is rampant, with one in 10 rail passengers found to be travelling without valid tickets last year.

The report also reveals public transport authorities have classified fare evaders into different categories, including ''game players'', to better understand their nature.

Metro ticket inspectors issued more than 53,000 fines in the first four months of the year - 20,000 more than in this period last year - with evaders now 60 per cent more likely to be caught.

Total fines on all public transport grew from 45,600 over this period last year to 67,400 this year as passengers on trams, V/Line and buses have all been penalised slightly more as part of the crackdown.

Adults caught without a ticket face a $180 fine.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder will today announce the success of the crackdown as he urges passengers to stop fare evading.

''It's fair that the majority of Victorians who do the right thing and pay the correct fare should not have to watch a minority of passengers cheating and getting away scot free,'' he said.

The crackdown means that passengers across the public transport network are being hit with a total of $3 million in fines a month, up from about $2 million a month early last year.

A government source said only about 70 per cent of this was ever paid because some people were unable to pay and others appealed.

The Network Revenue Protection Plan 2011-12, written last September by Metlink, urged transport operators to start the crackdown in a bid to slash the network-wide fare evasion rate from 13.5 per cent last financial year to 10 per cent this year.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the crackdown shouldn't be ''an exercise in revenue collection but to cut fare evasion in the longer term''.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fare-evasion-blitz-snares-thousands-20120528-1zffm.html

[justanotheruser]

how does one do a crackdown that prevents long term fare evasion? What is different to revenue raising crackdown on fare evasion? I can't really see how it would be done differently.