Technology upgrade to solve Opal card loophole at Sydney Airport
As of January 7th, 2019 passengers traveling to the airport station must top up their cards to a minimum $35 before boarding the trains

New technology to erase Opal loophole at Sydney Airport

Australia’s Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) has announced that all passengers travelling to and from Sydney’s Airport station are required to top up their Opal cards to a minimum $35 as of January 7, 2019. This solution is to prevent revenue losses caused by a loophole which allowed passengers to travel with negative...

MTA loses $215 million to fare evasion
Some people blame the new policy that stops the prosecuting fare dodgers, others the fall in ridership due to the system’s failures

MTA loses $215 million to fare evasion

The Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) in New York expects to lose $215 million to fare evasion in 2018. This is double the amount lost in 2015. The transport agency estimates fare dodgers in buses cost $119 million. People who jump the turnstiles amount to $96 million loses. According to MTA officials, paying bus ridership...

SNCF intensifies its anti-fraud strategy
The French operator will deploy mobile teams of 2 to 8 agents at trains and stations in Occitanie to reduce its 11% fare evasion rate

Anti-fraud strategy reinforce at SNCF

Fare evasion rate in SNCF Occitanie trains is 11%. This amounts to an annual loss of 8 million euros, equivalent to a TER of last generation. In order to tackle this issue, the French operator will reinforce its anti-fraud strategy. Starting December 9th,  SNCF will set up a new customer service organization at stations...

TransMilenio punishes fare dodgers with cleaning duties
The transport operator in Bogotá loses 477,000 million pesos annually due to fare evasion

TransMilenio punishes fare dodgers with cleaning duties

More than 600.000 people fare evade every day at TransMilenio, the metropolitan transport system in Bogotá. In order to reduce the amount of people using the public transport without paying, TransMilenio is deploying new pedagogical actions. The latest was punishing fare dodgers with cleaning the floors of stations. They also had to write slogans...

Negative balances on Opal cards amount to $2.9 million loss
Card system upgrades and a crackdown on fare evaders have provided a partial solution for the issue

Opal Card New South Wales Beau Giles https://bit.ly/2ya538m

An Opal card loophole at Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW), Australia allowed travellers to obtain new cards at no cost whilst ditching used unregistered cards that had outstanding negative balances. In the financial year of 2018-2019, this amounted to about $2.9 million in losses, $1 million less than the previous financial year. $2.9...

Fare evasion in Athens’ buses falls by 14%
The mandatory front-door boarding and ticket validating measure introduced in July shows initial promising results

Fare evasion in Athens' buses falls by 14%

Since July, people can only board Athens’ buses form the front door and are obliged to validate their ticket. After only one week of implementation, this measure already achieved a 100% ticket validation increase. Two months later, good news keep on coming: fare evasion in Athens’ buses has fallen by 14%. The reduction of...

G:link registers a 10% fare evasion rate
People sneaking into the Gold Coast Light Rail costs Queensland state more than $1 million

G:link trams

Almost one in 10 people ride G:link trams for free. Queensland’s Gold Coast Light Rail registered about 8.7 million passenger trips in 2016-2017. Yet, around 724,000 were taken without paying the fare, according to estimates. This implies more than $1 million in revenue loss. Figures revealed the Gold Coast light rail would have achieved...

One in three not paying for public transport in Santiago, Chile
After closing 2017 with a 10-points fall, fraud in public transport reached 28.5% in the first term of 2018

Fare evasion rate in Transantiago reached 28.5% in March 2018

Fare evasion rate in Transantiago continues fluctuating around elevated figures. The public transport system in Santiago de Chile closed 2016 with one its highest rate ever: 34,6%. A year later, the service managed to reduce the figure 10 points to 23,7%. However, during the first term of 2018, the rate has increased again, reaching...

Fake cards account for 40% of Barcelona’s fare evasion
People travelling without a valid ticket costed the Barcelona operator TMB 9.6 million euros in 2017

Fake cards are hacked original tickets EL SOTANO PHOTO http://www.elsotanophoto.com/

Fare evasion in public transport caused a loss of 9.6 million euros to the operator Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) in 2017. Almost half of this cost was due to passengers sneaking into the metro with fake cards. According to the estimates of the consortium Autoritat de Transport Metropolità (ATM), around 22,200 trips were...

The psychology behind fare evasion
A recent study identifies four types of fare dodgers: Accidental, 'It’s not my fault', Calculated risk-takers and Career evaders

People in a subway

Fare evasion – traveling without a valid ticket in public transport- is a problem for many public transit operators around the world. It undermines the viability of public transport, causes financial losses that amount to millions yearly, and leads to feelings of unfairness and lack of safety among paying passengers. A study carried out...