MISC | Honor payment system, fare dodging

[micro]

I've been travelling many metros but mostly didn't pay attention to the mode of fare collection!!! But now I want to create a worldwide list.
From recollection or photos I've added to the list: Bonn H, Cologne H, Dubai G, Genoa G, Oporto H, Rio de Janeiro G, Turin G, Wuppertal H

Of the roughly 180 systems, there are only about 70 in the list. How about the rest?
How about these prominent metro systems:

St Petersburg
Prague
Caracas
Buenos Aires
Athens
Beijing
Yokohama
Tehran
Budapest
Brussels
Istanbul
Helsinki
Oslo
Lisbon

--> gate or honour?

[Minato ku]

Paris metro has smart card since 2001. It is called Navigo.


Lyon metro added gates in every metro station, three years ago.

[RawLee]

Originally Posted by micro

Budapest
--> gate or honour?

Strictly speaking, honour. But there are controllers at every entrance, making them living gates...

[Apoc89]

Here's an example of how the Oyster smart card works on the DLR's honour system:



Like the sign says, card users have to remember to "touch in" at the start of their trip and "touch out" at the end. Revenue inspectors have small devices which scan the cards and tell them if it's touched in or not.

This has the disadvantage that card users might forget to follow one of these steps and then get caught, and even if they aren't the system will charge their card with the 'maximum fare' which is less than a fine but still fairly expensive. I've also had a reader glitch out on me once, thankfully there wasn't an inspector on that trip.

[allurban]

If you are living in a suburb of Toronto and taking the bus to/from a GO commuter rail / bus station, you only have to pay CAD 0.50 - provided that you show a validated GO ticket or pass.

So it is possible to pay only CAD0.50 to take a trip near the GO station without actually using the GO service. Just buy a 10-ride pass and show it to the driver and indicate that you are going to use the GO train or bus.

Of course, when you are boarding the local bus at a GO station you need to show that you just came off a GO train/bus (meaning that you have a ticket or can show a canceled pass) in order to pay the CAD 0.50 concession fare.

Cheers, m

[brunob]

Originally Posted by Apoc89

This has the disadvantage that card users might forget to follow one of these steps and then get caught

Not after having been charged the max amount for the fare when you forget to touch in, i can tell ya!

The system is far away from perfect, i'm on the Travelcard survey, and i can tell you that there are so many things that can go wrong... yet Boris wants to lay people off at counters... no later than last night, i was in Leytonstone and were on my own for a coupla hours, all i did was helping people out, because let's face it, some need chaperoning to get a simple fucking ticket, and holding the line behind them to an unaceptable amount of time. Keep those window attendants in place please!

[SM247]

No Australian systems are gated in the true sense of the term. The busiest stations in the big 5 cities (Sydney/Newcastle/Blue Mountains/Wollongong, Melbourne, Brisbane/SEQ, Perth and Adelaide) are gated, but no city has a completely gated network.

The systems are as follows:

1. Sydney
Buses - paper tickets (various technologies) + onboard validation of prepaid magnetic strip tickets for (government buses only)
Ferries - magnetic stripe tickets, barriers at Circular Quay and Manly wharves only
Rail - magnetic stripe tickets, barriers at selected stations only

In Sydney, you do not need to validate for a train or ferry journey if there are no barriers, or onboard a private operator bus (no ticketing equipment to accommodate this except on the government fleet - with privates, it is just driver inspection).

2. Melbourne
Bus/tram/train - all modes covered by the pre-existing magnetic strip system (same technology as Sydney). Only selected rail stations are gated, but validation is required at all stations when entering the system, and when entering a bus or tram. Melbourne has recently rolled out its smartcard system (myki), which will ultimately function in much the same way except validation will also be required when exiting the system. Notionally, you will not need to validate when disembarking from a tram because they have just jiggered with the fare zones, however on the 3 outermost legs of the network you may be better off doing so depending where you have come from.

3. Brisbane
Bus/train/ferry/(in future, light rail on the Gold Coast) - all covered by go card, which uses the same technology as Oyster. There is currently a mixture of various paper tickets in use as well, however all ticketing is due to be transitioned over to go card by January 2011. Validation required when entering and leaving the rail network, or on entering and exiting a particular bus or ferry. Only selected stations are gated (fewer than in Melbourne, Sydney or Perth).

4. Perth
Same situation as Brisbane, except they do not plan to remove paper ticketing for the time-being and they use Wayfarer technology. There are I believe a few circumstances where you do not need to touch on/off when transferring between buses and trains. Gates only used at selected stations, and are generally much more heavily manned/monitored than in the eastern states.

5. Adelaide
Same as Melbourne at present, except with a Crouzet ticketing system. It has been claimed this was the first electronic ticketing system in the world (I don't know whether to credit that or not). Will be replaced in coming years with a smartcard system.

Adelaide's urban rail network is a bit odd for Australia in that you purchase and validate your ticket onboard the train. The only gates are at Adelaide Station - these are only a set of access turnstiles, so you still need to validate when you board a given train.

There is also a smartcard ticketing system in operation throughout the Tasmanian government bus fleet and with other selected private bus operators around the country on very small scale. Canberra will have one for its bus network next year, I believe.

[micro]

I've put all those data on a new Metro Bits page: Fare Collection.
You're more than welcome to comment, either here or on the page itself.

[Gareth]

Merseyrail has traditionally been an honour payment system, although checks on trains and at the exits of stations happen quite often. Some of the busier stations now have ticket barriers but most don't and there still needs to be a manned lane at these places due to paper-based saver passes etc.

Helsinki's metro has no barriers. Its ticket system is integrated with that of the rest of the city's public transport and people usually buy a ticket that allows free changes in modes of transport. Indeed, I have travelled on Helsinki's metro, trams & buses extensively and not once encountered an inspector wanting to see proof of payment.

Hong Kong's MTR stations all have ticket barriers which require you to produce your ticket upon entering and leaving the network, to determine how far you've travelled and how much you should be charged. Octopus cards are used alongside standard MTR tickets.

[BarbaricManchurian]

In all Chinese mainland metros, for single journey tickets, you slide it into the gate and it lets you through, but when you exit, you have to give up the ticket into the exit gate (same deal with high speed railways). If you have a city pass, just swipe it at the enter and exit gate.

In Boston, they recently switched from tokens to cards, the new fare gates are much harder to go through illegally.

[DiggerD21]

Prague's Metro is strictly speaking an honor fare system, if I remember correctly. You have to stamp your ticket at the entrance, but at most (if not all) stations nothing is hindering you to go to the platform without ticket.

Dejvicka station

http://www.angrenost.cz/metro/a/de/de-westvest3.jpg


The Metro of Toulouse has gates. I am not sure about smart cards.

[Minato ku]

Toulouse metro has smart card, it is called Pastel.

[micro]

Thanks to all, I have added your facts along with many others.

[Wilhem275]

A note about Genoa: gates were installed in most of the stations, but they actually never worked to block people getting in, they are there only to represent the physical barrier where the ticket begins to be needed.
If you push them, they will rotate freely.

Some stations never received them.

So, in fact, it runs as a fully honour system.

[Mirage52]

Baltimore's light rail is an honor system and in 18 years I have seen a transit cop checking for tickets once. He doled out some fines that time, too.

I've been tempted to hop on the LR without a ticket while heading to Ravens games to avoid having to wait long for the next train but I have always bought one and now that I am a season ticket holder for the Ravens I buy the MTA Ravens season pass which is good for all MTA services.

[Gareth]

Newcastle's Metro initially used barriers but now has the honour system, according to Wikipedia...

Ticket barriers were withdrawn from service in the late '80s. The gates were removed from most stations, but in some instances remained in use (permanently open) to assist with crowd control.

[MKA123]

Originally Posted by micro

Stockholm H

No, Stockholm has ticket gates (see pictures in a different thread) (and they also have smart cards, SL Access).

Originally Posted by micro

Oslo

It is installed gates at the busiest metro stations in Oslo (as shown here and here), but they will probably never be completely used and closed (beacuse of the "high costs", ). So Oslo has the honour system on all public transport (except the Airport Express Train, which have gates installed at Oslo Airport Gardermoen).

EDIT:

Originally Posted by micro

I've put all those data on a new Metro Bits page: Fare Collection.
You're more than welcome to comment, either here or on the page itself.

I see the information I refer to in my post is ("more or less") correct on that web page.

[Svartmetall]

Honour payments exist in some parts of the Stockholm system, but not for the tunnelbana.

[MKA123]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

Honour payments exist in some parts of the Stockholm system, but not for the tunnelbana.

That is correct, at least not all commuter rail (pendeltåg) stations have gates. Are all metro (tunnelbana) stations "gated"?

[bebrs12]

Fare dodging is very widespread in Riga PT honor system. It is very sensitive topic for the transit authority as inspector abuse happens all the time (there are news time by time about fights, threatening with shotguns etc).
The inspector teams are numerous and during daytime can be met all over the network. Controllers board the vehicle and check it during travel or stop the buses between stops and hold it until everybody is checked. Sometimes the inspection is accompanied by police.
On the other hand, the fines are very small - usually about 5 euros so there is no real point of buying tickets 0.7 to 1 euro each Personally I don't pay for most of my trips as I travel late night and in outskirts only and have never get caught.

But if suddenly I would have to pay for all my trips I would just switch more for walking and private minibuses (marshrutkas) that manage to collect their pennies from every rider. Making a system where everyone pays not necessarily means transit authority income will rise proportionally to all free-riders.

In general I agree with K_ - honor system must go together with extensive use of monthly/yearly etc. passes instead of paying for every single journey. And of course fines must be considerable.