On Feb 3, 12:31*pm, Bruce wrote:

About 3.5% of journeys on German public transport are not paid for,
according to statistics from the Association of German Transport
Operators (VDV). In less compliant Berlin, it is 6%. That might not
sound a lot to the cynical visitor, but it's too much for the VDV,
which is demanding harsher punishments for fare dodgers: an increase
in on-the-spot fines from €40 to €60 (£50), and €120 for repeat
offenders.

That seems a good idea, so long as some discretion is possible for
genuine cases (e.g. if you forget your personalised[1] season ticket,
and get PFed, you can get the money back against an admin fee).

Generally, in an open system, the PF should be set at a level that
fare dodging doesn't cause a loss to the operator. If that's the
case, they can just stop worrying about it.

[1] Or smartcard, where it is possible to prove that it wasn't used.
That would require touching in to be mandatory even for season
tickets, though, with a PF of some sort (a lesser one, I guess) for
not doing.

Neil

Am 03.02.2012 13:06, schrieb Neil Williams:
the VDV,
which is demanding harsher punishments for fare dodgers: an increase
in on-the-spot fines from €40 to €60 (£50), and €120 for repeat
offenders.

That seems a good idea, so long as some discretion is possible for
genuine cases (e.g. if you forget your personalised[1] season ticket,

in that case, the law says, the penalty fare is reduced to 7 Euro, if
the personalized (season) ticket is shown within 14 days.

and get PFed, you can get the money back against an admin fee).

Generally, in an open system, the PF should be set at a level that
fare dodging doesn't cause a loss to the operator.If that's the
case, they can just stop worrying about it.

The real deterrent is not the amount of the possible penalty fare, but
the probability to get caught. But to increase this probability
increases the operating cost for the operator, while the increment in
fares and penalty fares diminshes.


Cheers,
L.W.