The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has give the green light to annual railway fare increases of 4.2% over the next three years. One of the reasons for this fare increase is the number of passengers who refuse to buy a ticket and consistently travel free on our rail system. It is estimated that fare evaders cost the New South Wales Treasury a whopping twenty-two million dollars last year.
Since the days of steam trains, the railways have waged an ongoing war to make sure every traveller has a valid ticket. Unfortunately, it seems that the fare evaders are always one step ahead of the measures in place to enforce the regulations.
A decade ago the wheeze from those detected was to give a false name and address when caught. At that time, inspectors could not enforce the requirement to produce personal identification and as a result the state debt recovery office was inundated with uncollectable fines for people named " Mickey Mouse " or " Donald Duck " - who seemed to live at street numbers which were vacant blocks of land.
Fare evasion was often very blatant. At peak times barrier jumpers simply hurdled that obstacle in full view of railway staff - and quickly melted away into the crowd. The response from the railways was a sharp increase in the number of inspectors checking passenger tickets on trains but often the transgressor was aggressive - and those inspectors lacked the legal ability to make an arrest and this led to civilian staff being replaced by uniformed police.
The introduction of ticketing machines exacerbated the fare evasion problem. With passengers no longer needing to front a ticket window to buy a paper ticket, it was easy to purchase a child or pensioner fare from an anonymous metal machine - and travel for a fraction of the legal cost.
Then came the Opal card, based on the very successful " Oyster " card used on the British rail system. It had initial teething problems but it opened a new era of compatibility between rail, bus and ferry travel. Very quickly it extended to the numerous private bus companies feeding into the government system, but even this is falling victim to rorting.
We are now seeing vast numbers of people accessing concessions to which they are not entitled. Those buying concession Opal cards are required to prove their bona fides but it seems that many such cards end up in the hands of people who do not meet that criteria. It is simply impossible to check more than a small percentage of travellers to detect those making use of bogus concessions.
Our system of law and order seems to be a mix of relying on the good nature of most people to obey sensible laws, and implementing fear to convince those who are of an opposite persuasion that such actions bring unpleasant consequences. Usually that fear is in direct ratio to the serious nature of the crime.
The fine for travelling without a valid ticket or with the use of an improper concession is two hundred dollars. The number of fines imposed increased to 134,000 from just 97,500 last year. Obviously, the revenue loss is being taken seriously by the government.
Poverty will force some people to travel without paying the fare, but for many others it is a mix of a spirit of bravado or the contention that such services should be for free. The measures put in place to ensure the correct fare applies is in direct ratio to it's cost of implementation - against the expected improvement in revenue gained.
That is a balance governments measure against the public reaction to the action taken !
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