Article: One in five evading fares on trams

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

One in five evading fares on trams

One in five evading fares on trams
Clay Lucas
August 29, 2011

FARE evasion on Melbourne's trams is much worse than previously acknowledged, with about one in five passengers travelling without a ticket, according to new research released by the Baillieu government.

The research revealed that evasion on the public transport system - trams, trains and buses - was costing about $80 million a year in lost revenue, Transport Minister Terry Mulder said yesterday.

The estimates were compiled by a survey team that followed ticket inspectors across the Melbourne network.

The level of evasion on trams was found to be dramatically worse than claimed just three years ago by the former Labor government, which estimated in 2008 that one in 10 travellers did not pay.

Bernie Carolan - then the chief of transport marketing agency Metlink and now the head of the government's Transport Ticketing Authority - estimated in 2008 that fare evasion cost Victorians between $35 million and $40 million in lost revenue.

Mr Carolan is now the chief bureaucrat responsible for delivering the myki smartcard, the introduction of which Mr Mulder has previously blamed for a dramatic surge in fare evasion.

The statistics released by the government yesterday showed that 13.5 per cent of passengers do not pay to travel by train, tram or bus. Taken from the Metropolitan Fare Evasion Survey, done by Metlink in May, the figures will be used as a new warning to passengers that ticket inspectors will be out in greater force, issuing more fines.

''These figures are unacceptable,'' Mr Mulder said, blaming the former government for a ''softly-softly approach to fare enforcement''.

''We need to get tough with fare evaders because we need every cent available to go into improvements across the network for the benefit of all passengers.''

Being caught by ticket inspectors without a valid ticket attracts a fine of $180 (or $61 for a child under 18). In the past financial year, about 135,000 fines were issued to people accused of not travelling with a valid ticket.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/one-in-five-evading-fares-on-trams-20110828-1jgno.html