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Fare flouts face fight

Public Transport Victoria has announced it will ramp up efforts to quash fare evasion

September 11, 2012

The fight against fare evasion in Victoria is being ‘stepped up’, according to Public Transport Victoria (PTV).

In a statement at the weekend, PTV says reducing fare evasion has become a priority and ticketing enforcement will increase.

“People need to be assured that there will be more checks, more fines, more often,” the statement says.

“It is no longer a case of if you get caught, but rather when.”

A recent report by Auditor General Des Pearson shows fare evasion cost Victoria’s metropolitan public transport sector $85 million in 2010–11.

The report recommends PTV reviews ticketing enforcement on Melbourne’s trains, trams and buses and consider allocating additional enforcement resources.

But according to PTV, in the past year the number of tickets being checked has increased 16 percent, to more than 9.3 million checks.

PTV says about 140,441 fines have also been handed out for ticketing offences this year, an increase of 32 percent on the previous year.

“Authorised officers are more visible than ever on the public transport network, working together to target fare evasion hotspots and key transport interchanges,” PTV says.

“More plain clothes officers are checking tickets and announcements are being made at train stations and on board trams.”

PTV says work has also been done to install extra myki barriers and myki readers, as well as providing increased customer education on myki.

“There are now hundreds of places to buy and top up myki across Melbourne and this will increase with the full roll out of the myki ticketing system,” PTV says.

“Customers are encouraged to top up their smartcard with myki money or myki pass and always be ready to travel.”

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