Inspection blitz uncovers widespread free travel pass fraud

[James Howard]

Exit checks aren't really practical at a lot of rural stations due to their sometimes isolated locations and the infrequent nature of the services. The best solution for the Longford services would be to deploy a checker at random on one of the services a few times a month and combine that with the odd blitz.

I don't really see how the checks are inconvenient to regular commuters. It is just a matter of flashing your pass which takes me approximately 2 seconds. It is a lot more convenient than losing a service because the revenue on the line isn't sufficient to cover its costs.

Anyway, deploying a team to Enfield is deploying them to a place where fare evasion is present (if not rife) and as far as I know the station is always out-of-hours as it is effectively just a halt.

[grainne whale]

Originally Posted by James Howard

Exit checks aren't really practical at a lot of rural stations due to their sometimes isolated locations and the infrequent nature of the services. The best solution for the Longford services would be to deploy a checker at random on one of the services a few times a month and combine that with the odd blitz.

I don't really see how the checks are inconvenient to regular commuters. It is just a matter of flashing your pass which takes me approximately 2 seconds. It is a lot more convenient than losing a service because the revenue on the line isn't sufficient to cover its costs.

Anyway, deploying a team to Enfield is deploying them to a place where fare evasion is present (if not rife) and as far as I know the station is always out-of-hours as it is effectively just a halt.

I've been incovenienced as I try to get up stairs to catch a Feeder Bus at Hazelhatch Station, the RPU block off the stairs. Up to 100 passengers would be getting off the train in the evenings, if you don't make it the Feeder bus will go off without you.

[Mark Gleeson]

Irish Rail is completely empowered to check tickets whenever they like

Bear in mind the greatest cause of delays at an inspection are

1. Passengers not having there ticket to hand, and spend ages digging around in pockets and bags

2. Passengers with no tickets clog up the process as it leaves fewer checkers to handle the queue.

Irish Rail's approach is consistent with other operators, I've never had a problem and always found the checking to be efficient and firm.

On the occasions where a passenger refuses to cooperate then the fun and gardai start

[grainne whale]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Irish Rail is completely empowered to check tickets whenever they like

Bear in mind the greatest cause of delays at an inspection are

1. Passengers not having there ticket to hand, and spend ages digging around in pockets and bags

2. Passengers with no tickets clog up the process as it leaves fewer checkers to handle the queue.

Irish Rail's approach is consistent with other operators

In all my years commuting to and from Hazelhatch I have NEVER seen any passenger caught for travelling without a valid ticket.
I have travelled by rail extensively in Portugal, Spain, Italy and UK an I have never seen such ambush tactics employed. Tickets are checked by a courteous member of rail staff. Why do Irish Rail always have to be confrontational.

[Mark Gleeson]

Comes down to a simple question, are Irish Rail's action legal?

They are.

I have traveled in 20+ countries by train, all are different. If you don't like Irish Rail you should avoid Berlin underground when a army of blue vest wearing checkers descend on a station.

In Budapest I got checked every second time on what is supposedly a open system, never been checked in Prague.

The reality is there is a high rate of fare evasion which is running at a level which is over the order of 12 million euro per year. Only way to stamp this out is to check tickets and ensure people know tickets will be checked.

[James Howard]

I should think that Irish Rail's approach is driven by culture. The fact is that there is a significant section in Irish society that tends to be extremely aggressive and who basically believe in getting their retaliation in first. This tends to correlate strongly with those who don't pay for their train tickets. So if Irish Rail don't turn up in force and behave assertively, they will get walked all over and may end up putting staff in danger.

It is unfortunate that the law-abiding majority have to get their noses put of of joint by this behaviour but I can't see a way around it. This is similar to how the loud aggressive drunks tend to get treated more quickly at A&E on a Friday night. The alternative for those of us who pay is to suffer a worse service and basically subsidise the scumbags who won't pay. I don't personally find them rude but then I always have my ticket to hand and can show it promptly when asked.

The opposite applies to other cultures. I don't know if the same system still applies but when I was in Tokyo about 15 years ago, they had this system called "Fare Adjustment" where if you didn't know what your fare was, you paid the minimum and then put your ticket into a machine at your destination and paid the difference. Of course, ever single Irish person I knew used to buy the minimum fare ticket and use their point-to-point work pass to get out at their home station. Our Japanese colleagues would be utterly horrified at this behaviour and there was never a ticket inspector to be seen anywhere because honour and honesty are basically core values in Japanese culture.

[grainne whale]

Maybe IR should consider changing the timing of their checks to out of hours when apparently fare evasion is rife.

[Thomas Ralph]

Originally Posted by James Howard

The opposite applies to other cultures. I don't know if the same system still applies but when I was in Tokyo about 15 years ago, they had this system called "Fare Adjustment" where if you didn't know what your fare was, you paid the minimum and then put your ticket into a machine at your destination and paid the difference. Of course, ever single Irish person I knew used to buy the minimum fare ticket and use their point-to-point work pass to get out at their home station. Our Japanese colleagues would be utterly horrified at this behaviour and there was never a ticket inspector to be seen anywhere because honour and honesty are basically core values in Japanese culture.

Yes the fare adjustment system is still in place.

Tickets are regularly and consistently inspected on long-distance services in Japan, and stamped.