Article: Ticket inspectors rated as less than fare

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Ticket inspectors rated as less than fare

Ticket inspectors rated as less than fare
CLAY LUCAS
March 13, 2010

In the eyes of public transport users, Melbourne's ticket inspectors are heavy-handed, lacking in leniency and obsessed with raising revenue.

According to a confidential government-backed study, the Revenue Protection Plan, ticket inspectors ''are perceived as going to extreme lengths to catch people, treating all customers as criminals simply to raise revenue''.

The plan was devised last year by public transport agency Metlink, along with train, tram and bus operators and the Department of Transport.

Read the complete document here (5MB PDF External)

Obtained by The Age under freedom of information, the strategy aims to reduce the number of people dodging fares on trains, trams or buses.

Fare evasion has cost the government and its operators at least $424 million in lost revenue since January 2005, the report estimates.

The Revenue Protection Plan notes many travellers refuse to pay because they believe Melbourne's public transport service is below standard.

It also notes that a key reason for people not paying their way is a lack of staff. The report details the result of recent research into perceptions of ticket inspectors: ''Negative perceptions have been reinforced over time, through both the media and through personal experiences.

''[Ticket inspectors] are seen to exercise significant authority without building legitimacy with customers through protecting and serving them.''

Perceptions of ticket inspectors compare poorly with other ''community roles'' such as security guards, lifesavers and school crossing attendants, the report says.

The report also reveals that Melburnians think the $172 fine for travellers caught without a ticket is excessive and ''out of touch'' with the seriousness of the offence.

Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula declined to comment on this fine, but his spokesman, Stephen Moynihan, said the penalties were in place to deter fare evasion.

Mr Pakula's predecessor, Lynne Kosky, reduced fines for minors for most offences, from $172 to $58. These lower fines came in on February 1 this year.

Among suggestions for reducing fare evasion floated in the plan are increasing enforcement and ''removing excuses'' for not having a valid ticket by closing more gates at train stations and improving ticketing equipment.

The report also finds:

. Fare evasion on buses, where a driver checks tickets, is falling; it continues to rise on trams and trains.

. The myki system will not mean more people buy a ticket and ''was never intended to be a solution to fare evasion''.

. Some customers enjoy ''actively taking on the system'' by not buying a ticket.

. Commuters believe not having coins on a tram is a valid reason to not pay.

. Commuters choose to evade fares because it is socially acceptable to do so, and because it is easy to do so. Ticket inspectors checked 1.3 per cent of all tickets last year.

Separate Metlink research shows 74 per cent of public transport users believe not buying a ticket is ''ripping other passengers off''.