Fare-dodging costs EUR 1 million on Greater Helsinki buses

print this

According to figures kept by the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV), fare-dodgers led to losses in ticket sales revenue of around EUR 1 million last year.
      In 2006, a greater number of passengers riding the YTV buses were travelling without a valid ticket than in the previous year.
      A total of 275,600 tickets were subjected to random inspections on all the regional bus services and on internal services within Espoo and Vantaa. The total number of cases where a person was travelling without a valid ticket came to 2,808, or fractionally over 1% of all inspected passengers.
      In 2005, the corresponding figure had been around 0.9%.
     
The greater part of the fare-dodging takes place on the regional bus lines, in other words those buses that cross city boundaries. Rather than having a regional ticket, the smart ticket is swiped only for travel within the city, or else the passenger uses an "internal traffic only" Travel Card and extends his or her journey illicitly.
      YTV stepped up its inspections on buses during 2006, in particular in the regional traffic. Checks were also focused increasingly on weekend evening and night traffic, where the inspectors received back-up from security guards in order to ensure there was no trouble. The inspections will be continued this year.
      The figures for the incidence of ticketless travel on YTV-administered services are rather lower than those reported in Helsinki itself (see article from 2006).


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Number of ticketless riders growing in Helsinki public transport (30.1.2006)

Links:
  Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV)

Helsingin Sanomat