Fare evasion in Paris and its suburbs costs the Île-de-France public transport network an estimated 700 million euros annually. To tackle this significant loss, Valérie Pécresse, President of Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), announced the launch of “continuous control” operations starting Monday, February 17, targeting bus, tramway, metro, and RER lines most affected by fare evasion. The initiative aims to cut the fare evasion rate from 8% to 4% by the end of 2025.
Currently, nearly 8% of travelers in Paris and its suburbs do not purchase or validate their tickets. The fare evasion rate is around 5% in the RATP metro and RER networks, but significantly higher on surface transport: 15% on buses (27% at night) and 16% on trams.
Pécresse attributes the increase in fare evasion to habits formed during the COVID-19 pandemic when bus drivers stopped selling tickets, leading to a “tolerance” for not paying fares. She emphasized the impact of fare evasion on the public transport system, stating, “Fare evasion is theft because each validated ticket funds our network and its modernization.” Highlighting also that the 700 million euros lost annually is “twice what was recorded ten years ago and the equivalent of two new tramway lines or 1,500 new clean buses.”
To combat this trend, IDFM will deploy 50 control teams per day, dedicating 500 control and security agents to the “continuous control” operations. These teams will remain on targeted lines for entire weeks, conducting checks both in the morning and evening. The initiative follows a successful experiment on the Trappes – Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines line, where two weeks of non-stop checks at 13 stops reduced fare evasion from 13% to 6%.
IDFM plans to publish a quarterly barometer listing the lines most affected by fare evasion. Currently, the Château-Rouge station on metro line 4 and Aimé Césaire on line 12 are the worst for fare evasion, with rates of 17.3% and 16.7%, respectively. On buses, lines 356 (Seine-Saint-Denis to Val-d’Oise) and 4203 (Essonne) have fare evasion rates exceeding 40%. Tramway line T1 (Hauts-de-Seine to Seine-Saint-Denis) and RER lines B, H, and D (with fare evasion rates between 12.3% and 12.7%) are also highly impacted.
To improve fine collection, IDFM aims to increase the payment rate of fines issued to fare evaders. Currently, 60% of fare dodgers pay their fines immediately, but only 10% of the remaining fines are successfully collected. The “Stop Fraud” platform, launched earlier this year, allows control agents to verify the addresses of fined individuals after the fact. By this summer, real-time address verification will be possible through a partnership with the National Agency for Automated Processing of Offenses, enabling automated follow-ups and reminder letters.
Pécresse also outlined measures taken against organized fare evasion on social media, highlighting the successful blocking of the Akha app, which helped fare dodgers evade ticket inspections. A recent investigation also uncovered a large-scale scam involving fake health insurance certificates, which allowed fraudsters to obtain a 75% discount on Navigo passes.
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