Fare evasion

Fare evasion or fare dodging, rarely called ticket evasion, is the act of travelling on public transport in disregard of the law and/or regulation by having deliberately not purchased a required ticket to travel (having had the chance to do so). It is a problem in many parts of the world, and revenue protection officers operate on many systems. Often ticket barriers, manned or automatic, are in place at stations etc. to ensure only those with valid tickets may access the transport. The term fare avoidance is sometimes used as a synonym and sometimes used to refer to the lawful use of much cheaper tickets.Turnstile jumping in Moscow Metro, Russia.Climbing over fence of a commuter train station in Moscow, Russia.A crowded KRL Jabotabek train with passengers riding on the outside in Jakarta, IndonesiaRiding between coaches of a high-speed Siemens Velaro train 'Sapsan' in Russia.High Entrance Turnstiles in Madrid, Spain.Turnstile in a bus in Moscow, Russia Fare evasion or fare dodging, rarely called ticket evasion, is the act of travelling on public transport in disregard of the law and/or regulation by having deliberately not purchased a required ticket to travel (having had the chance to do so). It is a problem in many parts of the world, and revenue protection officers operate on many systems. Often ticket barriers, manned or automatic, are in place at stations etc. to ensure only those with valid tickets may access the transport. The term fare avoidance is sometimes used as a synonym and sometimes used to refer to the lawful use of much cheaper tickets. Fare evasion and fare fraud is a crime in most jurisdictions. The fare not paid, compared to potential penalties and hassle, is generally considered 'not worth it'. In the transit world, fare abuse studies are sometimes shrouded in utmost secrecy and treated like classified information, but it is widely discussed in popular press, local television news, criminal justice literature, economics research, and internet blogs; in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, London, and Paris. Four agencies (TransLink, King County Metro, Edmonton, New York) made evasion audit findings public, San Francisco (Muni) and Atlanta (MARTA) presented papers, while Toronto addressed evasion in a fare collection study, at least one confidential international benchmarking study was published, and Federal Transit Administration has even requested special studies of non-farebox passengers within the context of National Transit Database ridership reporting. One method of fare evasion is jumping or climbing over the turnstiles which mark the entryway into a subway system; hence the term, 'turnstile jumping'. Fare-dodgers also can walk right behind a passenger with a valid ticket before closing of ticket barrier gates (this called tailgating). Other methods include adults traveling on children's tickets, or using discounted tickets or free passes that the passenger is not entitled to. However, ticket barriers are often watched by ticket inspectors and guards, and in that case fare-dodgers can climb over fences of a station or simply walk alongside railway tracks or use passes for railway staff to enter or exit the station without passing through ticket barriers. In some cases fare-dodgers can break and destroy fences around a train station to make a passage.