Fare evasion

Fare evasion or ticket evasion, as distinct from fare avoidance or ticket avoidance, is the act of travelling on public transport in disregard of the law and/or regulation, having deliberately not purchased the required ticket to travel (having had the chance to do so). It is a problem in many parts of the world, and revenue protection officers operate on many systems. Often ticket barriers, manned or automatic, are in place at stations etc., to ensure only those with valid tickets may access the transport.

Fare evasion and fare fraud is generally a crime in most jurisdictions. The fare not paid, compared to potential penalties and hassle, is generally considered “not worth it”.

One method of fare evasion is jumping over the turnstiles which mark the entryway into a subway system; hence the term, “turnstile jumping”. Other methods include adults traveling on children’s tickets, or using discounted tickets or free passes that the passenger is not entitled to. The most extreme method is train surfing.

Another issue occurs on the bus, passengers would either bypass the bus driver or simply enter through the rear door of the bus. This is commonly found under the New York City Bus system which causes its operators to lose millions of dollars a year. In most countries passengers board a bus from any door, validate their tickets at machines and have no contact with the driver thus increasing the potential for fare evasion.

Fare evasion can be a chronic problem in transit systems, especially large systems like New York or Paris. From classic turnstile “vaulting” and “slugs” instead of legitimate tokens to elaborate schemes involving stolen faregate keys, fraudulent electronic fare media, “forgetting” proof-of-payment (POP) receipts, or “two card monte” that takes advantage of fare system features, many ways exist to avoid paying fares. Indeed, industry standard revenue ‘leakage’ is reportedly 3%~6%. Evasion is so rampant in some cities that conversion from POP to turnstiles is being proposed or seriously considered.

In the transit world, fare abuse studies are sometimes shrouded in utmost secrecy and treated like classified information, but it is widely discussed in popular press, local television news, criminal justice literature, economics research, and internet blogs; in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, London, and Paris. Four agencies (TransLink, King County Metro, Edmonton, New York) made evasion audit findings public, San Francisco (Muni) and Atlanta (MARTA) presented papers, while Toronto addressed evasion in a fare collection study, at least one confidential international benchmarking study was published, and Federal Transit Administration has even requested special studies of non-farebox passengers within the context of National Transit Database ridership reporting.

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Wikipedia