Fare evasion - articles discussion ...

[techblitz]

this...

Minister Bailey is correct in what he said, but, we as a community must work together to address the underlying issues. Yes school kids are an issue, bad behaviour is an issue. But how about we address the social environment, the welfare society we have encouraged over the past years, why do we have kids roaming the streets during school hours, why do we have kids on public transport in Gangs late at night, why do we have adults assaulting drivers and passengers over a $2.40 fare, why are Adults and kids living on the streets, where are the jobs, where are the housing commission homes, where are the apprenticeships, where are the cadet-ships, where is the drive to get ahead? It's not the government roll to fix the issues alone!! We as a modern society must work together with the government to resolve the problems and we can not play the blame card on the government alone..We as a society must accept responsibility too!!!!

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1120446155341606912

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily Letters

Why should I pay when no one else does?

I DON'T travel every day.

However, when I have taken the bus I always see someone avoiding paying.

One lady used her card and it went red. She never batted an eyelid. Got on. The driver said nothing.

These are adults and teenagers, not children.

Thanks to the Morcombes, everyone takes advantage of free fares.

Also I have travelled on the train from Landsborough and the amount of folk not tapping on and off is shocking.

There are no officials watching so you could travel from there almost to Brisbane free.

Just don't tap on and off.

No inspectors are ever on the buses nor trains.

So why do I pay?

FRANCES FAIRLEY

Golden Beach

[timh]

Sunshine Coast Daily Letters

Why should I pay when no one else does?

I DON'T travel every day.

However, when I have taken the bus I always see someone avoiding paying.

One lady used her card and it went red. She never batted an eyelid. Got on. The driver said nothing.

These are adults and teenagers, not children.

Thanks to the Morcombes, everyone takes advantage of free fares.

Also I have travelled on the train from Landsborough and the amount of folk not tapping on and off is shocking.

There are no officials watching so you could travel from there almost to Brisbane free.

Just don't tap on and off.

No inspectors are ever on the buses nor trains.

So why do I pay?

FRANCES FAIRLEY

Golden Beach

I've seen this attitude in Melbourne (my brother lives there) with the trams. The touch on/off system for Mykis is far more convoluted than it needs to be. Combine that with the confusion of travelling in and out of the free tram zone and a complete lack of any inspectors on the trams, many commuters just choose not to pay. Same attitude as the lady above: Why bother?

[ozbob]

Interesting observation by a member out West.

Member boarded 515 at Riverlink heading towards North Ipswich. He touched on, a lady following also touched on. The next 11 passengers boarded and didn't touch on. Driver let them go. Bus started up and stopped a little further on the way to the exit out of Riverlink.

3 QPS 3 SNOS got on. Booked them all ...

🤑

[red dragin]

Interesting observation by a member out West.

Member boarded 515 at Riverlink heading towards North Ipswich. He touched on, a lady following also touched on. The next 11 passengers boarded and didn't touch on. Driver let them go. Bus started up and stopped a little further on the way to the exit out of Riverlink.

3 QPS 3 SNOS got on. Booked them all ...

🤑

Wonder how many times the driver had been through that process on the day 

[ozbob]

Probably quite a few .. 😝

At a fare lock down / sweep at Goodna rail a few months ago I suggested to the SNOs to go out on the buses. ...

I have never been checked on western bus for ticketing. 😜

[verbatim9]

Interesting observation by a member out West.

Member boarded 515 at Riverlink heading towards North Ipswich. He touched on, a lady following also touched on. The next 11 passengers boarded and didn't touch on. Driver let them go. Bus started up and stopped a little further on the way to the exit out of Riverlink.

3 QPS 3 SNOS got on. Booked them all ...

Interesting observation by a member out West.

Member boarded 515 at Riverlink heading towards North Ipswich. He touched on, a lady following also touched on. The next 11 passengers boarded and didn't touch on. Driver let them go. Bus started up and stopped a little further on the way to the exit out of Riverlink.

3 QPS 3 SNOS got on. Booked them all ...

Wonder how many times the driver had been through that process on the day 

Probably quite a few ..

At a fare lock down / sweep at Goodna rail a few months ago I suggested to the SNOs to go out on the buses. ...

I have never been checked on western bus for ticketing.

Good to see something happening on those concerned routes. Hopefully a sweep is being done in the same way on the Gold  Coast on a regular basis.

[achiruel]

Needs to be done in Logan City too. In almost 9 years here I've never seen an SNO on a Clarks or PRT bus.

[brissypete]

Interesting observation by a member out West.

Member boarded 515 at Riverlink heading towards North Ipswich. He touched on, a lady following also touched on. The next 11 passengers boarded and didn't touch on. Driver let them go. Bus started up and stopped a little further on the way to the exit out of Riverlink.

3 QPS 3 SNOS got on. Booked them all ...

Oh that is so satisfying to read

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

[Cazza]

On Saturday afternoon, jumped on an outbound 111 at Roma St around 4:15pm with 2 SNOs jumping on too.

[ozbob]

On Saturday afternoon, jumped on an outbound 111 at Roma St around 4:15pm with 2 SNOs jumping on too.

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Translink launches etiquette classes in Gold Coast schools teaching tram manners

A new blitz on the Gold Coast is teaching school kids how to mind their manners.

TRANSLINK is conducting an etiquette blitz at Gold Coast schools to teach children manners on buses.

Assaults on drivers and fare evasion have skyrocketed in recent years, much of it fuelled by "anti-social behaviour among school-aged children".

Translink officials were on the Gold Coast yesterday talking to students as part of a renewed push for their Step Up "Respect the Ride" program.

It comes after a Youth Fare Evasion Roundtable involving bus drivers, police, educators and transport groups in April.

"There is a general trend towards assaults and fare evasion this year on the year before," Surfside Buslines general manager Martin Hall said.

"We have seen a general increase in anti-social behaviour among school-aged children."

Mr Hall would not go into the specific number of assaults locally.

"Even one assault is too many, were just want there to be mutual respect."

The number of assaults on Surfside bus drivers on the Coast tripled in a year. In 2017-18, 64 drivers were abused. Eleven of them had objects thrown at them. In 2016-17, 19 drivers were attacked.

In March, the Bulletin reported that almost 4000 Gold Coast students were evading bus fares each school day, costing taxpayers half a million dollars more annually than it did just three years ago.

TransLink said the "fare evade" button on Surfside school bus runs was hit 763,944 times in 2017-18, triple the 238,195 hits just two years earlier.

Veteran bus driver Johnny Po, who previously told the Bulletin that drivers were being "treated like dirt", has kept a log of attacks.

He described an incident in Coomera this month in which a female driver was verbally and physically abused and had beer poured over her.

"Us drivers are afraid for their lives and it doesn't seem to matter to anyone," Mr Po wrote on social media.

"We deliver an important service on your behalf, at least show some compassion and protection.

"Look carefully at the trouble we're confronted with ... this is no joke."

A report from a female bus driver was raised in parliament last week. She counted 130 fare evasions in a five-hour shift.

Another Coast driver spoke of four youths aged 12-13 refusing to pay and telling him there was nothing he could do about it as they would dob him in.

They asked to be dropped at a shopping centre instead of school.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the presentation at a Gold Coast school yesterday(Wednesday) followed "appalling social media videos shared of teenage girls abusing passengers and a bus driver at Palm Beach".

"Everyone has a right to catch public transport without being subjected to this kind of behaviour," Mr Bailey said.

"About 30 million school trips will be taken on public transport this year, and while most will be incident free there will always be a small element of anti-social behaviour."

Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey, who has previously the plight of bus drivers and a lack of security, said the TransLink program, originally launched in 2017, was a "pathetic response" to escalating the problem of fare evasion.

"How totally incompetent and irresponsible of government to stretch senior officers where there are only a few in the Gold Coast network.

"We need more SNOs (senior network officer). There are only nine dedicated to the Gold Coast bus network, but this Labor Government will not put more senior network officers on to catch fare evaders."

"Why would you even create a program not going to wind it out in all schools in Queensland.

"The program is nothing more than words if it is not being actively promoted in all the problem areas."

[techblitz]

Gee how many measly thousands is that costing?? FFS bailey....first of all get your ass out to inala/forest lake and see the massively positive effects the onboard security are having.....then work with GCCC and take a leaf from TFB/BCC.

Yesterday on an inbound 100 where I jumped on near forest lake primary(grand ave west)....there were securirty onboard.....lots of school kids onboard plus more boarding......it was the quietest school period trip I have ever been on.....the kids are starting to get the message....no anti-social behaviour.....the security card monitors everything when they board...

And just for the record two weeks ago I was on a 765 3pmish....once the bus picked up the school kids....almost instantly.....they were running up and down the bus isle...screaming,yelling to the point where they had to be told to be quiet or sit down by others.

An absolute parallel...

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily --> Letter to the Ed: Time to crack down on the serial bus fare evaders

I AM continuously reading in the paper about these young hoods not paying for their ride.

May I suggest an unmarked police car on two days a week follow the bus from a distance any time, different days, different routes?

Then it will be up to the youths to guess what days and what route the police will be boarding the bus.

When the police see a number of youths jump on board the bus, then they themselves board the bus at the next stop and confront the youths.

If they have not paid to travel, charge them accordingly.

If these youths are older than 10 years of age, they should know better.

IAN WELCH

Pomona

[techblitz]

ive been on this frickin 765 all of 10 minutes and already two groups of teens fare evading....5 in total......this is money p%ssed  away that could be going on bus upgrades.

[SurfRail]

The 2 aren't really related.  Surfside already gets more than $85m a year as of the last DTMR annual report, and the cost of fare evasion on the Gold Coast is somewhere less than 2% of that amount from what I last recall being reported (around $1m at best).  The cost of chasing it down would be swallowed up easily by what is being lost considering how much we would need to pay to put on extra SNOs in sufficient volume to actually fix things.  Kids aren't exactly paying top dollar to start with.

Do something about it by all means, but nobody is missing out on upgrades just because some kids are ferals.

[techblitz]

They are about as related as it gets when translink specifically states...

Up to $25 million is lost to fare evasion on the TransLink network each year. Lost revenue could be reinvested in new and improved public transport services which benefit all users.

less than 2% of that amount

Transfer that 2% over to say translink as a whole and there is the 20 million extra that your asking for...
Or when a hard working advocate is told by the transport minister 'it is not possible to connect buses to each [insert *poor frequency*] train service due to the significant levels of investment required'.....surely even 500k of 1 million clawed back from fare evasion could help fund those extra bus services??

The cost of chasing it down would be swallowed up easily by what is being lost considering how much we would need to pay to put on extra SNOs in sufficient volume to actually fix things

But the tradeoff is more than worth it.....people actually starting to pay their fare because they know they will have a higher chance of being busted due to more SNO`s being out and about..
I would be interested to see the latest figures for train and light rail....which have a higher SNO appearance rate than bus....if fare evasion has reduced due to the extra presence on those modes then it means we are onto a winner...

As for the kids.....I think smarter tactics will be needed......someone needs to put on the thinking cap and figure out a way to get these kids to pay....the school evasion tripled going by the last report.....either make it free or introduce some sort of levy on the parents....even if it averages out to ten cents a trip....ten cents is better than zero cents..

[SurfRail]

They are about as related as it gets when translink specifically states...

Up to $25 million is lost to fare evasion on the TransLink network each year. Lost revenue could be reinvested in new and improved public transport services which benefit all users.

less than 2% of that amount

Transfer that 2% over to say translink as a whole and there is the 20 million extra that your asking for...
Or when a hard working advocate is told by the transport minister 'it is not possible to connect buses to each [insert *poor frequency*] train service due to the significant levels of investment required'.....surely even 500k of 1 million clawed back from fare evasion could help fund those extra bus services??

The cost of chasing it down would be swallowed up easily by what is being lost considering how much we would need to pay to put on extra SNOs in sufficient volume to actually fix things

But the tradeoff is more than worth it.....people actually starting to pay their fare because they know they will have a higher chance of being busted due to more SNO`s being out and about..
I would be interested to see the latest figures for train and light rail....which have a higher SNO appearance rate than bus....if fare evasion has reduced due to the extra presence on those modes then it means we are onto a winner...

As for the kids.....I think smarter tactics will be needed......someone needs to put on the thinking cap and figure out a way to get these kids to pay....the school evasion tripled going by the last report.....either make it free or introduce some sort of levy on the parents....even if it averages out to ten cents a trip....ten cents is better than zero cents..

The Gold Coast bus figure is aproximately $1-2m per annum, which is enough to pay and provision maybe 10 SNOs (which would do SFA in a city the size of the Gold Coast) or upgrade an hourly bus or 2.  It's not the giant deal that is being made out - system wide we are talking $25m out of well over $1.6bn, which is again close to 1%.  The system still needs more money than it is leaking. 

Fund as many SNOs or whatever as you want, there is a point at which diminishing returns present you with the opportunity to spend more money than you were losing anyway.  I don't for a minute suggest that we shouldn't have more revenue protection, but linking it to service upgrades is not a very cogent argument.  It falls into the category of "public transport eases congestion" in that it sounds right to the gut but it really isn't in fact.

The trams are much easier to police given there are only 18 vehicles captive to one route carrying 11 million plus per annum, and more staff checking tickets than vehicles.  Bit different when you have a fleet of nearly 400 buses.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Public transport should be free for starters. Speeds up dwell times and gets more people onto public transport. Money to fund it can come from elsewhere as a result of less spending in that area ie roads, no need for up keep on the cubic system, no fare gates allow for quicker access into and out of the stations along with more retail opportunities around bus and railway stations. Anyone remember how many people caught trains to the city after the 2011 floods and how fast it was to get in and out of stations as there were no queues?

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't 2/3 of Brisbane's budget is currently spent on road upgrades and projects? Where could most of that money be better spent elsewhere for the local community??

[timh]

Public transport should be free for starters. Speeds up dwell times and gets more people onto public transport. Money to fund it can come from elsewhere as a result of less spending in that area ie roads, no need for up keep on the cubic system, no fare gates allow for quicker access into and out of the stations along with more retail opportunities around bus and railway stations. Anyone remember how many people caught trains to the city after the 2011 floods and how fast it was to get in and out of stations as there were no queues?

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't 2/3 of Brisbane's budget is currently spent on road upgrades and projects? Where could most of that money be better spent elsewhere for the local community??

Free public transport is the dream but it's unrealistic in the short term, especially since here in SEQ our cities are so ridiculously designed around cars. I'd love to shovel more money into it away from roads though.

Correct me if Im wrong too but I can't think of any major cities that have free public transport. A lot of the big cities in mainland China have it extremely cheap (eg. Beijing, Guangzhou) but you still have to pay something.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Free public transport can work here. Its just a lack of political motivation and willingness to do anything and keep the status quo all while staying in power making people think you are actually doing something for them when you are doing the exact opposite.

[ozbob]

MYTH: MAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORT FREE WILL ENCOURAGE USE AND POLITICAL SUPPORT

> https://www.ptua.org.au/myths/free/

Free PT for all is not going happen anytime soon, if ever ...

[techblitz]

The little rugrats on the gold coast need addressing pronto.....theres more at play than just letting them have their way with bus drivers and passing it off as too difficult/expensive to combat......if they cannot carry at least a little bit of respect and pay their already reduced bus fare......they will more than likely carry that lack of respect elsewhere........it then becomes someone elses problem....usually the police......they move from stealing bus fares to stealing cars....

I seriously cannot see the gold coast improving....light rail/train perhaps.....but not bus.....you can visually see it.....happy to be proven wrong on the next figure release...jan stuckey will no doubt let us know....

Is there really that much poverty on the gold coast that they cant pay up?? Why is it I go to suburbs like norman park or upper kedron on the 367 and every single kid pays their fare??

[SurfRail]

Nothing to do with poverty, it's cultural.  Most public school students and many private school students on the Coast have been little sh%ts for decades.

Bus drivers aren't there to raise kids right, they are there to drive the bus.  The problem goes much deeper than the public transport system, which is only experiencing the symptoms.

[achiruel]

I really don't like the idea of "free" public transport except perhaps for events. There needs to be some level of price signal against excessive long-distance commuting. We don't want 100,000 people catching the train from Gold Coast to Brisbane in peak hour, for example-it'd cost a fortune.

I'm not convinced about the free City Loop bus either tbh. People who are using it for the first/last leg off their journey, it would count as a transfer anyway, and for people who drive to three city and park somewhere and take the bus to their final destination, if they had to pay it's another incentive to not drive.

[Gazza]

Nah no need for it to be free.
Canadian cities, which are sprawling like ours, still get a 50% cost recovery ratio. We should aim for that.

[techblitz]

speaking of...

https://www.facebook.com/busissues/posts/500156290527963

comments in there from other gold coast observers...

Bus drivers with issues with TransLink and bus safety.

21 August at 11:05 ·
...

The article below was copied from Gold Coast Bulletin Subscribers Digital Edition 22 August 2019.


Driven mad by fare evaders

KIRSTIN PAYNE

Bev Tronc was shocked by the number of fare-evading kids on a recent trip with her granddaughter.

A GOLD Coast grandmother is calling on the public to stick up for bus drivers who are being abused by fare-evading schoolchildren.

Robina woman Bev Tronc said she was "shocked and disappointed" by the number of students she saw refusing to pay for travel on the school bus route she took with her granddaughter this month.

"We were on the bus hoping to work out my granddaughter's journey to school when I saw all these kids hop on without paying," she said.

"I didn't realise what they were doing. I honestly thought it was a program and asked the bus driver about it."

To her horror, she said she was told the youths were simply taking advantage of a policy designed to protect them.

"We saw about 20 kids hop on the bus but only one swiped their card," Ms Tronc said.

"The poor driver was just about pulling his hair out.

"The fare evasion button just kept on going ping, ping, ping, ping."

One stop after another Ms Tronc said she watched the young passengers pile on without paying.

"Schools are limited in what they can do, so are bus drivers, so I do feel like it is up to us as parents to say something and ask kids where that bus money is going.

"I agree with the policy to keep kids safe, but this was too much. Public transport doesn't pay for itself.

"The issue really isn't about the money, it is learning to pay your way and doing your bit."

In March, a Bulletin report revealed the "fare evade" button on Surfside school bus runs was hit 763,944 times in 2017-18, triple the 238,195 hits just two years earlier, costing taxpayers $500,000 in lost revenue.

In June, the Bulletin also reported the ongoing efforts in schools to curb the problem by teaching bus etiquette.

Veteran Gold Coast bus driver Johnny Po said the issue was "not going away anytime soon".

He wanted TransLink to provide drivers with a vandal proof barrier to prevent antisocial attacks.

"Contractors have to train their drivers to ignore fare evaders and look the other way and not get into an argument over a $2.40 fare," he said.

"Drivers must learn to drive only and not interact with these mongrels who could care less for the other passengers, let alone the operator (bus driver)."

A TransLink spokesperson said TransLink in partnership with Queensland Police have been conducting joint operations across the Gold Coast's public transport and shopping centre hubs including Robina most recently.
"The purpose of these operations are to proactively target anti-social behaviour and fare evasion across the public transport network on the Gold Coast," the spokesperson said. "Based on the success of these operations, we will be planning and rolling out further joint operations at hotspots across the Gold Coast."

the gold coast definitely has a problem.....so many speaking up publicly about it.....even mark bailey himself singled out the GC....many will be waiting how far he and translink take their promises of extra resources to tackle it...

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Less than half of southeast Qld fare evaders slugged with fine

OVER half of Queensland commuters who have been busted evading fares on the state's public transport network have escaped without a fine.

The Sunday Mail can reveal more than 82,000 adult commuters failed to pay in the past two financial years, but only about 31,500 were fined, with the rest let off with a warning.

About 48,200 minors were busted for fare evasion in the same period, they were all handed warnings, due to the "no child left behind" policy in Queensland.

In total, more than 50,000 warnings were issued to adult commuters in 2017-18 and 2018-19, resulting in a loss of about $13 million to TransLink, with no opportunity to recoup.

It comes as the public transport provider estimates that it loses about $25 million every year to fare dodgers.

Acting Transport Minister Mark Ryan said those who made a genuine mistake with their go card were given a warning, but insisted they would be issued a fine if caught out a second time.

"Unfortunately, students are responsible for 52 per cent of all fare evasion counts," he said. "Students aren't fined in Queensland. But taking advantage of the Government's commitment to child safety by refusing to pay your fare is unacceptable and unfair on other public transport users.

"The safety of children will always be our priority, but there is also an expectation that public transport users accept their responsibility to pay their fares for transport services."

Deputy Opposition Leader Tim Mander said the consequence for fare evading should be a fine, "plain and simple – a mere warning seems excessively generous for people who are in effect stealing public transport from Queensland taxpayers," he said.

"Warnings should be reserved for those with genuine excuses, not the majority".

Of the more than 2.2 million go cards that were scanned in the past two financial years, fare evasion was detected about 5.7 per cent of the time.

A TransLink spokesman said they had a dedicated revenue protection team of 57 senior network officers, with recruitment recently starting for an additional 14 officers.

"Almost 190 million trips were taken on all modes of public transport across the TransLink SEQ network last financial year and the majority of customers do the right thing by paying the correct fare," he said.

[Otto]

The people they catch are just a small drop in the ocean. I know people who offend repeatedly with no second thoughts about doing so. They also know that there will be no SNO's on the bus network after 10:30 pm as their latest shift signs off at 11:00 / 11:30pm at home base.
Just look at my stats for 2019. Only 1 got caught from all the evasions on my services during the year. Most regular 'bus' fare evaders have never even seen a SNO.
Many drivers don't ever bother about using the 'Evade' button anymore as nothing ever seems to be done about reported evasion.

[#Metro]

Alternatively, why not look at other strategies that don't involve hiring people to chase.

For example, pre-paid transport passes ones that could be automatically paid monthly. Could come integrated with their student card.

[techblitz]

https://www.facebook.com/TransLinkQLD/posts/4014499511909417

I've talked to drivers about this and I've seen it first hand a number of times where people along the 550 are fare-evading and the fact that so many of them, don't use a GoCard. I'm always puzzled as to why they can't afford to buy one and save 30% off, yet they somehow have money for a paper ticket?

ive noticed that some will pass their 2 hour expiring ticket to another friend and/or family member to use for a return trip.....gocard may save 30%.....but they are saving 50% by splitting it.....wouldn't surprise me if there were 3 or 4 trips being taken on the same paper ticket..

I think someone needs to be held responsible for the lack of investment in encouraging gocard usage in certain areas....especially at inala which is one of the problem areas for fare evasion.......hundreds of new overseas arrivals into the area with no concept on how to use a gocard or even where to get one.....and no avvm machine.....not so much as a sign stating directions on where to get a gocard which is at the newsagent on the other side of the plaza...

Oh but don't worry......this lack of effort/investment is going to come straight back in their faces when petitions start getting signed if/when they eventually try to remove paper tickets completely from areas where there is high paper ticket usage...

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> 'You gotta let me go, 'cause of Daniel Morcombe'

"YOU gotta let me go, 'cause of Daniel Morcombe."

The teenager, no older than 16, laughingly tells a TransLink officer this as he walks past him to join his friends.

It is offensive to think the teen, who says he came from Marsden, is using the horrific death of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe so he can catch a train to Westfield Coomera to hang out with mates.

The "no child left behind'' policy has become a massive bugbear for not only TransLink officers, but also the police working on the front lines.

"He's quoting from the teen thug playbook," the Bulletin is told later on.

"You know, we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't," says a TransLink officer.

He is talking about the dilemma they face almost daily – do officers let them ride the trams, buses and trains for free if they are caught while already on board, or do they kick them off?

On the one hand, if you eject the youths and something happens to them later, officers will be crucified. On the other hand, if officers let them ride it out and they cause trouble, they will be mocked.

"A lot of them are given warnings. There's an unspoken rule, if they're not causing sh%t get them home. What's the alternative?" he says.

The alternative? A petition circulating online started by the footy coach of Jack Beasley, the Gold Coast teenager stabbed to death in Surfers Paradise, calling on the Government to install security scanners at hotspot stations that would show whether passengers are carrying weapons like knives, as well as drugs, as they climb off trains coming into the Gold Coast, nabbing them before they board trams.

The 17-year-old was allegedly stabbed to death by teens who had travelled to the Gold Coast from the Logan area.

It's 3pm on a Thursday afternoon, school is still out for the holidays and teenagers and adults are streaming through the northern end train and tram stations at Coomera and Helensvale.

The Bulletin has tagged along with police and TransLink as part of Operation Sierra Luminous, a "high-visibility" effort to cut down on anti-social and criminal behaviour across the networks.

Over the next several hours, officers hear every excuse under the sun – "I left my wallet at home'', "I don't have any money'', "I lost my ticket''.

It goes on and on and on.

Adults and teens are caught trying to evade fares. For a few, it is their first time. But for most it is their mode of travel.

But it is the attitude of the teenagers, career train and tram jumpers, towards authority that is the most shocking. Many who are caught have been spoken to up to 20 times in recent months about fare evasion.

Several teens laugh in the face of officers. Others quote legislation.

A worrying number drop Daniel Morcombe's name.

Most just lie through their teeth.

Nearly every train arriving at Coomera Train Station has fare evaders. Within minutes of arriving there, five teens are pulled up by the officers.

For police it's a twofold exercise – they might be lucky and snag someone they've been looking for, a person committing a crime, but importantly it is an intelligence building dream.

During Thursday's operation they completed 181 street checks, nabbed two people for stealing, another for serious assault, one for unarmed robbery and two for wilful damage.

Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said young people knew how to use the system to their advantage.

"They do learn the system, very well and very quickly, in terms of using the Morcombe scenario and just in general," he said.

"They are educated in the ways of the world a lot quicker now.''

Referring to the culture of lack of respect, Supt Wheeler called for parental responsibility.

"Parental responsibility certainly plays a part in this because we can't have a police officer at every corner, standing on every carriage of a train, on every bus. It's not possible nor is it desirable. We don't want to live in a military state.

"This is unfortunately a generational thing and there needs to be a cultural shift to start with. "You can have all the laws in the world and enforce them, but there are some problems you can't arrest your way out of and simply locking up the world won't work."

Police were reviewing Operation Sierra Luminous and how it could be improved.

"Is the frequency sufficient, are the actual tactics and strategies appropriate? I think the work those officers are doing is outstanding considering the circumstances.

"If it's a case of we need to change, then absolutely we will, because we have got to be adaptable and flexible and try to get ahead of the game and not just respond all the time, but prevent.

"It's very complex and I don't think it's a case of if we pull this lever, we'll solve this problem. Every lever you pull, there's a consequence. If one of the levers we pull is throwing these kids off the trains, an unintended consequence could be another Daniel Morcombe."

Acting Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Ryan said it was unfair of people to take advantage of the "no child left behind'' policy.

"Taking advantage of the Government's commitment to child safety by refusing to pay your fare is unacceptable and unfair on other public transport users," Mr Ryan said.

"Operation Sierra Luminous is a great example of officers across different agencies working together to stamp out anti-social behaviour and fare evading."

He said the Government took the safety and wellbeing of passengers in and around trains seriously.

"We now have close to 60 TransLink officers on our network, joining 29 light rail officers, 80 Queensland Police Rail Squad staff, and 28 Queensland Rail Authorised Officers," Mr Ryan said.

"In total, more than 300 security personnel patrol trains across the southeast alongside a 24/7 CCTV network with more than 12,000 cameras.

"All these officers do an excellent job and boosting their numbers will help make public transport safer and give us a much greater presence."

[#Metro]

Just get their address and add it to their power bill.

[ozbob]

The signs of the problem were there a number of years ago.  It was allowed to get worse and finally some sort of attempt to ' control '.

Far too late.

I think it is time for a new approach.  Make travel free for all of school age.  They are basically allowed to do that in the end in any case. 

Maybe the ' thrill ' of challenging the QPS and SNOs will  no longer be an issue.

Lot less confrontation on the buses.

[red dragin]

It's not a bad suggestion, and would get more onto PT from a young age, may cause a minor shift away from car reliance.

The only issue would be false age being provided by those just over the cut off.

[verbatim9]

The signs of the problem were there a number of years ago.  It was allowed to get worse and finally some sort of attempt to ' control '.

Far too late.

I think it is time for a new approach.  Make travel free for all of school age.  They are basically allowed to do that in the end in any case. 

Maybe the ' thrill ' of challenging the QPS and SNOs will  no longer be an issue.

Lot less confrontation on the buses.

If that eventuates only school kids and teenagers with a.registered Go.Card or linked debit card when smart ticketing is up and running, travel free. Not just any teenager.

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Gold Coast bus drivers abused by paying passengers sick of sharing public transport with fare evaders

Fare evasion is so rampant on Gold Coast buses frustrated paying passengers have been threatening and abusing bus drivers.

GOLD Coast bus drivers are being abused and threatened by full-paying passengers fed up with the youth freeloading crisis.

Drivers say legal-abiding commuters are becoming "more aggressive" with kid bludgers using buses to "intimidate" others and terrorise the community.

Two weeks ago, the Bulletin revealed armed youths were using the public transport before and after robberies as "free taxis".

"The paying passengers on the bus are becoming more and more upset with the occurrence and incidents caused by fare evaders," a driver told the Bulletin.

"They get abused and intimidated by fare evaders.

"They themselves are starting to become aggressive and I had one such customer this week who threatened to punch me for letting fare evaders on the bus.

"They have to put up with bad language, rubbish scattered through the bus and malicious actions and vandalism and loud music they do not appreciate – all from people who should not even be on the bus."

One driver estimates one in 10 juveniles fork out for fares and he says there is nothing they can do about it.

"They will go to shops and steal as well as threaten people and rob them. This is the group where the older ones will decide what car they want to steal and go joy riding," he said. "Then at the end of another fruitful day they catch their free taxi home."

Young fare evaders often raise the 2003 abduction and murder of 13-year-old Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe as a reason they do not have to pay.

Transport authorities direct drivers to press designated "fare evade" buttons that were installed in Coast buses in 2015.

TransLink said: "All public transport users suffer as a result of the actions of a minority.

"These are lost funds that would otherwise be used to improve services for all users, such as increasing frequency of services, adding new services into growing areas, and expansion of hours of services."

The Queensland Government employed eight new senior network officers in December and is recruiting up to 14 more officers, to bring the total number of officers to 71.

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily --> 'Cheeky' teens abusing laws made after Daniel's death

Young people are increasingly abusing the "no child left behind" policy implemented after the death of Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, recent data shows.

TransLink data shows that during the 2019/20 financial year, 92 per cent of Sunshine Coast and Noosa bus passengers paid their fare.

When compared to the previous year, there has been a three per cent increase in the number of people not paying their way in the area.

A TransLink spokesman said while they couldn't disclose the exact number of youths in the figures, youth fare evasion was identified as a "complex and challenging problem".

"We know that some school-aged children are deliberately fare evading and taking advantage of our commitment to child safety," the spokesman said.

The topic of youth fare evasion previously surfaced in 2012 when then LNP Transport Minister Scott Emerson said children were exploiting the principle, put in place after Daniel was abducted while waiting by the side of a Sunshine Coast road for a bus in December 2003.

The TransLink spokesman said fare evasion cost the State Government up to $25 million each year.

"These are lost funds that would otherwise be used to improve services for all users, such as increasing frequency of services, adding new services into growing areas, and expansion of hours of services," he said.

Daniel Morcombe Foundation founder Bruce Morcombe said the "no child left behind" policy wasn't designed to be taken advantage of.

"(It) came into effect because of Daniel's situation almost 17 years ago," he said.

"(It) says that bus drivers are required to pick up a child at a bus stop even if they don't have a sufficient fare.

"It is for the unlikely but very possible circumstance that a child lose their money so they don't get refused entry.

"But we are very much aware that some individuals do take advantage of that and get on a bus challenging the bus driver with the illustration 'you are required to pick us up'."

Several initiatives to combat the problem have been implemented by the State Government, including the announcement on Friday to further stamp the growing issue out.

TransLink's revenue protection team will this month grow to 63 Senior Network Officers (SNOs) as announced by Transport Minister Mark Bailey.

The new recruits will work alongside 29 GoldinQ customer service officers, 23 Queensland Rail authorised officers and 80 Queensland Police Service rail squad officers.

Their role is to stage regular station lockdowns and patrols, educate public transport users and issue penalty infringements and warning notices.

The Rail Tram and Bus Union's Tom Brown hoped this would make a real impact.

"Fare evasion leads to much worse behaviour on buses so the RTBU supports any increase in resources to tackle it," he said.

The Transport Workers Union's Peter Biagini said as frontline bus drivers continued to keep the community moving, it was more important now than ever to ensure that they were safe at work and that everyone was doing their part.

"We know that fare evasion contributes to conflict and altercations on our bus network, putting drivers wellbeing at risk, and increasing the chance for physical contact during a pandemic," he said.

Mr Morcombe added that it was another welcomed initiative to fade out "those cheeky individuals who want to abuse the 'no child left behind' policy".

The State Government last year held two roundtable meetings to gather insights from a range of stakeholders to address youth fare evasion.

The roundtables were attended by more than 30 representatives from across the transport industry, policing, education, youth justice, community and child safety sectors, including the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Other initiatives in place include the Step Up program which targets school students with high fare evasion and behavioural offences, the State Government-funded trial of eight customer service officers employed by Bus Queensland to ride on and monitor Brisbane companies and the See It From Their Side bus driver safety campaign ads.

The new SNO recruits are expected to have their first shifts in October.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1305385962319433728