Public Transport Archives

March 30, 2023 AI Video Analytics, Fare Evasion, Public Transport, Safety & Security

The Challenge of Measuring Fraud in Public Transport
Methods, Limitations and the Assistance of AI

The Challenge of Measuring Fraud in Public Transport, Transit, Fare Evasion, AI, video analytics

Midjourney image prompted by AWAAIT

Challenges in Measuring Fare Evasion Fraud in public transportation is a major issue that causes significant financial and operational challenges for public transport operators. However, accurately measuring the extent of fare evasion is a challenging task, as current methods of measuring fare evasion have significant limitations. The good news is that artificial intelligence (AI)...

March 16, 2023 Public Transport

MWC Attendees Drive Barcelona Metro’s Best February in History
Ridership figures surpass pre-pandemic levels, highlighting the metro's crucial role in city mobility

Barcelona’s metro network has set a new record, registering its best-ever February with over 34.8 million validations, surpassing pre-pandemic numbers. The increase is part of an ongoing upward trend in usage since the beginning of 2022. A contributing factor to this growth is the recovery of visitors to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), prompting...

September 23, 2020 Fare Evasion, Public Transport

Brisbane deploys extra officers to tackle fare evasion
Authorities want to reduce a spike in fare infractions and violent incidents in public transport

Annually, billions of euros are lost to fare evasion worldwide. It is a corrosive problem for public transport companies, posing a threat to safety and financial sustainability. Authorities in Brisbane, Australia, are deploying extra public transport safety officers to patrol and monitor fare evasion. The new senior officers will patrol on trains, ferries and...

September 3, 2020 Fare Evasion, Public Transport

Full-height fare gates to curb down fare evasion in Rennes, France
The new gates cost €7m and should save Rennes metro €15m over the next 15 years

Station Charles de Gaulle at Métro de Rennes

The city of Rennes, France, will soon be giving away its status as the last city in the country to use an open system for ticketing at the Metro. In a bid to curb down fare evasion, authorities are installing full-height fare gates at all current 16 stations on the city’s STAR network. Fare...

August 31, 2020 Fare Evasion, Public Transport

As much as 1m fare evasions per day on Mexico City’s Metro in 2019
Most fare dodgers jump or manipulate the turnstiles, or use fake tickets and cards

As billions of dollars are lost to fare evasion yearly, it remains a major focus for mass transit operators worldwide. In Mexico City, authorities reported a new grim record of 1 million fare evaders per day on the city’s subway (STM) in October 2019. According to STM director Florencia Serranía, on the last day...

August 20, 2020 Fare Evasion

4x more fare evasion on Dutch buses during Covid-19
Offenders took advantage of back-door bus boarding and reduced fare inspections to avoid paying

The Covid-19 outbreak imposes a new set of sanitary rules to prevent the spread of the virus infection. For public transport users, this basically resumes to social distancing, and wearing face masks. Public transport companies also took extra preventive measures such as back-door bus boarding, and vehicle and station disinfection. Unfortunately some travellers see...

July 30, 2020 Fare Evasion, Public Transport, Ticketing

Ticket inspections resume on Stockholm’s public transport
The controls must now take into account Covid-19 safety measures

After a two-and-a-half-month break during the coronavirus outbreak, Stockholm’s public transport operator SL is resuming ticket controls. As of mid-June, ticket inspectors are running regular controls on the subway. Since June 29, they are also checking tickets on buses and trams. For controls on buses, inspectors are checking tickets when travellers disembark. The inspectors...

June 23, 2020 AI Video Analytics, Fare Evasion

The role of AI Video Analytics for reducing fare evasion in public transport
Transport managers can draw more value from their video surveillance networks by employing intelligent Video Analytics using AI

Ticket inspector looks at a sequence of images showing fare evaders on Awaait's video analytics app (note: the scenes in the app are a simulation played by actors)

A ticket inspector checks a fare infraction alert on the real-time fare evasion detection app developed by Awaait (note: the scenes in the app are a simulation played by actors)

Making better use of existing video networks Overcoming the challenge of manually analysing video feeds from security cameras is one of the biggest tasks for companies that use video surveillance on their premises. Security agents have to spend many hours checking multiple computer screens, and oftentimes there are not sufficient agents to review all...

June 16, 2020 Fare Evasion, Public Transport

Fare evasion impact in Washington D.C.
Recent system upgrades aim to provide more accurate ridership data to measure and prevent rising fare evasion rates

Fare evasion is a global issue causing losses of billions of euros. Washington D.C. ranks third in the US for the financial impact caused by fare evasion, after Massachusetts’ Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In 2019, fare evasion losses on buses amounted to €24.4m ($29m), and €9.2m ($11m)...

June 8, 2020 Public Transport, Ticketing

Fare inspections to resume on Toronto’s public transport
After a two-month pause during the pandemic, fare inspectors will gradually resume their normal duties this summer

TTC – short for Toronto Transit Authority, announced that fare inspectors will gradually resume activity on its premises and vehicles. During June, they will board vehicles once again to ‘remind customers to pay their fare’. They will be placed at key surface transfer points to ‘observe and educate customers and to make sure they...