Evidently it did non-German things like building a full metro in a then-small city rather than a Stadtbahn and having Lokalbanan terminate in outlying areas with a T-bana transfer rather than trying to through-run them as S-Bahns. All of the agencies have counts, they just chose the laziest way to enforce things, then went ahead and enforced it with vigor. And the Overground runs nearly break even, which I think is what the report was complaining about. As examples in this report will show, commuting agreements around the world are far more progressive with regards to the distribution of the costs of commuting. Of course efficiency is important but it is not achieved by those approaches, no matter how theory predicts it. They immediately made me feel at ease and left no stone unturned in order to achieve a successful conclusion to mycase. Japans railway privatization and broken up was also said as for the purpose of crushing railway union. Tear down these faregates. Indeed if you can get most of your passengers/city reaching two yeses then your casual evasion will be well below a level worth caring about.. Thats a significant consideration for regions with large income disparities. In the summer, Governor Cuomo announced a new initiative to hire 500 cops to patrol the subway. I was facedwith the prospect of receiving a hefty fine and a criminal record. Personally Id rather SNCF hired from Keolis and not from Air France, While the fine for fare dodging is indeed 60 thats for a first time offense. This one said the writer was exaggerating the cost, and that there were many choices to get the price down a lot. Transport For London (TFL) has an aggressive prosecution policy when it comes to Fare Evasion. TFL Fare evasion prosecution | RailUK Forums Plus, there are airport surcharges. If thats something I do often, most of those will be free trips under the 45-swipe regime, regardless of whether I lose a few workdays in a given month. Its difficult to get an ice cream truck into a subway station. Yeah, and did you read the very lengthy instructions about how to apply for the adult monthly travel card? Its one of these things that on some level anyone can end up doing technically I did it once in grad school, when I brought in a tray of leftover cookies after a talk intending to take them back to Columbia, and someone on the train offered me $1 for 3 of them and I said yes. Thanks, BSB Solicitors. It is you who is artificially creating a them versus us war, which is reminiscent of London where there is definitely a class that would never use the Underground. (LogOut/ In reality, this would actually be a cost saving measure because any system to collect fares, be that fare gates or proof of payment, is very expensive, so getting your revenue from taxes instead of fares would actually be cheaper for the residents. It cancels more trains than all the other rail firms in Britain put together. In cases where longer term avoidance of fares in suspected, for example using someone elses reduced fare Oyster Card over a period of time, Transport for London (TFL) may want to interview you under caution. Though, dare I say, and FWIW, it also perfectly correlates with the Anglosphere Heres a whinge about train costs in the UK, from the weekend travel letters section (just so Alon doesnt think Im making this stuff up). A TFL fare evasion solicitor can intervene at this stage by writing a detailed letter of representation on your behalf, arguing that a prosecution would not be in the @Phake Nick Sorry that narrative is wrong, the pro-car consensus was if anything more dominant 1950-1987, highways and railways were actually paired together e.g. WebOur fare evasion solicitors are familiar working with the major train and bus companies in England. Sendai for instance is very much concrete before electronics/operations. There are at least a couple in SF (24th and 16th and Mission) that do this. Hello there and thank you for choosing to use our service. In fact I strongly believe they are counterproductive, and not just by making using the system very irritating and off-putting for the users. Would certainly recommend. Unsurprisingly, the UK train system is privatised, no doubt this accounts for these exorbitant prices. Wow, I had no idea a Japanese city could have so much car dependent sprawl! Whereas today the program is a net revenue generator if it halves subway fare evasion, a level that already seems strained, within ten years, assuming normal fare escalation, it will need to cut fare evasion by about 90%, which is a complete fantasy. On similar basis Greater Tokyo is 2,788/km2 which is still quite dense compared to US cities or urbanised areas. This is also a common way of pricing telecom services, where the majority of costs arise from providing the network, not the marginal cost of using it. But all rail travellers would. The consequences for me as regards my right to work in the UK were extremely high, and so this situation was cause for lots of stress. And thats before we get to lack of light-rail. As for cheap trips outside rush-hour, that is exactly what I am arguing for instead of bulk-discounts (that make the marginal cost 0 in rush hour). Its in the budget. Fare Evasion OUTRAGED. They will probably engage in Uber-like fare undercutting to get pax numbers at first, which will reduce the traffic on SNCFs most cash-generating routes. In any case, major capital investment will always involve the government, but that is largely irrelevant for questions about using existing infrastructure efficiently. For smaller municipalities, transit should be free. The kind of thing I imagined every time I travelled between the two mega-cities in the 80s and 90s. Makes the second point much less important, even to those minorities (those minorities are much less likely to be subject to this treatment in France versus the US). In New York City, a spate of attention has come recently to policing Americas largest transit system. Most months have a holiday in them, and there may also be a sick or vacation day thrown in. These are the exact opposite of your econometric analysis. Susan Lenne, Clovelly, NSW. You focus on a small permanent presence where habitual evasion is common, and then focus your roaming enforcement on areas with a high CASUAL risk., which is why (in London) youll see periodic HIGHLY VISIBLE ticket check sweeps at big stations, or on services like the DLR or high-risk bus routes where there are a large number of POTENTIAL casual evaders. This split also had an effect on the policing of fare evasion, as checks used to be a LOT rarer on the S-Bahn than the U-Bahn or tram, and in my experience the inspectors also tended to be more lenient, letting people off with a warning if they had a passable excuse, which would never happen with the BVG inspectors. Using another persons ticket (Student Oyster Card, Freedom Pass or another type of discounted travel card), Passing through the ticket barriers without paying, Travelling further than your ticket allows you to, Travelling in a first-class carriage, when only purchasing a standard ticket. Some people will learn to dodge the inspectors, as is the case in Berlin, and thats fine; the point is not to get fare evasion to 0%, but to the minimum level net of enforcement costs. The MTA has also mentioned a higher figure, $300 million; I do not know if the higher figure includes just urban transit or also commuter rail, where conductors routinely miss inspections, giving people free rides. I had been using it for a few weeks when I was stopped by aticket inspector. Think this is a relatively recent initiative, maybe withn the last 5 years or so. The upshot is that successful policies regarding fare collection in (for example) Germany are obscure in the United States even more than policies regarding wonkier transportation issues like train frequency. Theyd be lynched if they tried that in France, and probably by other politicians being applied to NYC-MTA. Or abominations on privatised lines with endless train cancellations, without refunds of course, while the train companies award their chiefs millions in bonuses, even as they continue to extract huge government subsidies (more than before privatisation!). ts not about maximising milk, its about minimising potential moo., And thats ALSO why youll see TfL/National Rail come down HEAVILY in the courts on anyone with real money who evades (e.g. For someone who has no previous convictions, it is, of course, a great shock to be facing a court appearance. Different rail providers bring different charges under different laws depending on the circumstances. And incidentally I totally reject your repeated assertion that low fares, or flat fares, to the outer zones of big cities, encourages sprawl, because it does the opposite (it will encourage TOD around the stations) and is much more likely to entice them out of their cars. Im not sure about the Lokalbanan. If theyre buying a book, theyre buying it near the office or at home, not in the middle. The cost burden of commuting is unevenly and unethically distributed amongst the beneficiaries of this utility. The simply DO NOT have the money to pay so threats of fines are also useless against them., For the LARGER category of habituals though, its either because: Passport-size photos, applications, visiting the ticket office. My Friday train is always half as empty as any other day. (Both also have the worst inequality amongst the developed world so they need to cater to the low-SES workers.) It is over 25-year-old technology by now. WebOlliers Solicitors: Criminal Defence Law Firm Manchester & London This skewed thinking has meant that substantial financial burdens are being placed upon commuters (not to mention the public at large) whilst other beneficiaries of commuting (employers) are not contributing to its financing. Because I actually believe in trying to have a reality based discussion heres the densities per hectare as of 2014 in the Atlas of Urban Expansion. 2) They think its cool And also that Caltrain may realize based on the new data whether they should be charging participating employers more or less, etc. Fares are an important component of public transport revenue; the taxes required to eliminate fares are significant enough that there are probably better uses for the money. It boasts the worst record on significant lateness. I dont think anyone could reasonably make the argument that rail privatisation in the UK saw worse service. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone I know who was looking for legal representation in any matter. New York does poorly on the metric of encouraging monthlies. > The norm here is that big cities fund urban rail out of fares; the U-Bahn breaks even here, and I think also in Munich. If you were to plead guilty at court or to be found guilty after a trial, this is a criminal conviction. Double that figure, and the average number of commuting trips is 44 to 46. Yet subway fare evasion hasnt curbed despite increased policing, officials said . about improving efficiency etc that has been utterly discredited. The local newspaper reports how other commuters have missed work so often, theyve lost their job; how students have missed exams or holidaymakers havent made flights. Is that recent? FOI request detail - Transport for London That maybe the US its not in the UK. Trains and trams are also PoP. This was a great result and I could not be more grateful. Having a pricing structure of a very high marginal price for trip 0-25, followed by a 0 cost for trip 25-999 is just bad design. This system has been copied to American light rail networks, but implementation on buses and subways lags (except on San Francisco buses). Ireland..DroghedaDublin.116..3% For bigger cities, POP is appropriate. I suspect the reason Paris is capping-curious is precisely that the breakeven point there is so high it was 52 relative to buying tickets in bundles of 10 last time I was there. That is true in HK and Singapore which arent really inexpensive city-states but have transit use as a priority over road use. More recently, it trialed a new turnstile design that would hit passengers in the face, but thankfully scrapped it after public outcry. in Niigata with Tanaka using both to molify Tsubame-Sanjo divisions. But Q4 is why you need the PERCEPTION of enforcement., Now I say perception here because THATS WHAT MATTERS. It is still bad. Both are negatively impacted by heavy commute subsidies. 24 Hour Emergency Contact 0207 837 3456 0207 837 3456, Home > Criminal Law > Fare Evasion Solicitors. Southern is a story of rail failure. We have a great deal of experience in this area and have had consistent success in settling these matters out of court, avoiding a criminal record. It isnt broken down for different modes, because its a single system thats mostly fare-integrated, unlike London and very unlike American cities. After a number of years of loss-leading the commercial company goes bust or worse (see UK, though admittedly there is little competition on a route basis; they have the worst of all possible worlds) and the debacle and chaos* makes more travellers choose alternatives to rail. Geez. The most urbanised zone is Paris + Petite Couronne: 6,695,233 (2011) on 761km2 = 8,786/km2. Double and triple merde. Fare gates on very crowded systems (such as Londons) also act as crowd control at Stations that are getting overcrowded due to disruption. A different reason to dislike monthly passes is that they work against people using bikes-walking-transit (and for that matter, cars) in different combinations. Fares are integrated between buses and trains (which is more than I can say for, say, London), and theres a schedule for fare by distance. The penny pinching Japanese private railroad operators seems very able to operate and plan efficient transit decades ahead. They did an excellent job and she gave me all the information Ineeded. Settling case out of court (fare evasion) | RailUK Forums. Often such pay as you go systems are implemented to cover the fact that the product (aka the service level) sucks. @Sassy: If subsidized transit leads to people moving further out and leading more car oriented lives, it could even increase transportation costs, as people saved money on housing by moving to a further out area, but end up needing a car for many non-commute trips.. *Except in the actual immigrant nations of USA, Canada and Australia where crime rates are lower in immigrants! Hope that isnt a dark omen. Hmmm, Grenfell maybe not (when they renovated the building they actually removed one of the two stairwells ). It is not like we are arguing about some fantasy scenarios, I am just saying that the West could adopt systems more similar to the East (where it evidently works very well). Fare enforcement should be done with POP alone, by unarmed civilian inspectors, as in Berlin. However, this really isnt about revenue or enforcement approaches or fare levels. It is seemingly impossible to get comprehensive timetables (and costs) for all trains plying a certain route. If the subsidy for bulk discounts and rush-hour trips could be used to make off-peak fares really low (say on average 1 dollar or less in NY), this would have great gains in overall transit usage, the efficiency of the system, and social equity. The commuting trips are the predictable part of that persons transportation. To the passengers, this friction is invisible I buy tickets on the BVG app but theyre equally valid on the S-Bahn, even on S-Bahn-only trips. The dissatisfaction with Southern was legendary. Turnstiles do not belong in any city smaller than about 10 million people. I dont think that pass existed until recently. The answer inevitably will be yes, and this despite paying high salaries and absurd high bonuses to senior execs etc (which went on even as those companies marched into bankruptcy.) Compare with S$120 in Singapore or about 80 for Paris (all zones I believe): In most of the US, as you know, we need better service more than we need cheaper fares. The governor is proposing to spend more on fare enforcement than the MTA can ever hope to extract. Finally, as to user satisfaction, you may well be correct if youre talking of the Brits/Londoners. Prosecutions act as a deterrent, in theory discouraging others from evading their fares. SB, 2019/11/15 09:51 Do you think the econometric, austerity-minded policies w.r.t. Do not send or request any private messages for any reason. This really an area where the West should take lessons from Asia (though far integration, which is lacking in some Asian countries should of course still be encouraged). If subsidized transit leads to people moving further out and leading more car oriented lives, it could even increase transportation costs, as people saved money on housing by moving to a further out area, but end up needing a car for many non-commute trips. That doesnt pay for itself. Having unlimited pass owners crowd around the fare readers is only a little bit better than having them wait to push through a gate. The travelling public in the East seems a lot more happy with their experience than the travelling public you refer to in the West. NYCs subway, though a lot less user-friendly, at least has the virtue of fare simplicity. Plan a journey and favourite it for quick access in the future, Choose postcodes, stations and places for quick journey planning, Find out more about the Single Justice Procedure and how to submit your plea, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. The sprawl exists. Also because as long as you are not going to the big London Stations once you get in to the evenings and weekends there is a big chance those stations gates will be open as they become unstaffed. Fare evasion is a criminal offenceand you may be prosecuted. [You double-posted; I deleted the shorter version.]. You can sometimes find left-populists here who promise great fare reductions, but these just soak up subsidies that could go to better service. Thoughts on Planka.nu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planka.nu) and similar movements/organizations? *I already hate the newer online ticketing and information systems. (No doubt, partly econometric because of the cost-benefit calculation of replacing their antiquated coin-op turnstiles with something modern.). The main feature of those East Asian systems is that travel, even without any discount, is far cheaper than in the west.