Edmonton Transit is having more success when it comes to stopping fare evasion within the system.
Fare evasion within the ETS has been a problem for years, especially when it comes to the LRT, where proof of payment is based on the honour system. It appears the majority of customers do pay the fare.
“I normally always pay, i’ve got a little bit of a guilty conscience,” says Brooke Hodgson, a regular transit user.
However, it seems there is a small group of people who believe they can cheat the system. Stephane Contre with Edmonton Transit Security says at one time the fare evasion rate was about 5.4 percent.
Contre says fare evasion is an issue they take very seriously and steps have been taken to crack down on those who think they can cheat the system. Last August, the ETS increased the fine for fare evasion from 110 dollars to 250 dollars.
“The year after the fine increased to 250 dollars, we’ve noticed that our fare evasion rate has actually gone down to 3.9 percent. That’s actually a 28 percent decrease in fare evasion rate,” says Contre.
ETS has also made a number of other changes to combat fare evasion, including additional peace officers and increased fare checks.
“All of these things, including the increase in fines have contributed to making it more difficult to get away with not paying your fare on Edmonton Transit,” Contre explains.
He says fare evasion usually happens the most during the evening and weekend periods.
With files from Vinesh Pratap.
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