Judges in Germany say prosecuting persistent fare dodgers is a waste of valuable official time and resources. But transport authorities maintain traveling without a ticket is not a trivial offense.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/W. Steinberg
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Taking a bus or tram in Germany without a valid ticket is a crime, according to Germany's criminal code. And it is one that could have severe consequences: 7,600 repeat offenders were sent to jail in 2016.
When you get caught dodging a fare the first time, you will usually only have to pay a fee of €60 ($75). That also goes for minors who can be expected to know that they need a ticket to ride the bus, and for people who have a ticket for themselves, but not for their bike or large dog.
If you get caught for a third time, you will be reported to the police. Then you either have to pay a higher fine, or go to jail for up to one year.
From a purely practical standpoint, fare-dodging is not exactly difficult in Germany. There is usually no barrier at the entrance of bus and tram stops, unlike in subway or tube stations in New York or London. You will not encounter the friendly conductors who check your tickets on every ride either. Even if you are a frequent public transport user, you might only see them a couple of times a year.
But it is still illegal. There are stickers on busses, trams and stops to remind passengers in no uncertain words. And yet, calls for fare-dodging to be downgraded from a crime to a misdemeanor are growing ever louder.
The Berlin city judiciary alone dealt with 40,000 fare-dodging cases last yearImage: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Weigel
Supporters of the move say that it would radically reduce the workload of police officers and judges. Peter Biesenbach, justice minister in Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, said that over one-in-ten verdicts handed down in his state dealt with fare-dodgers.
Biesenbach, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), believes the judicial resources required would be better used to "take care of burglaries and handbag thefts."
The German Association of Judges (DRB) hasn't said outright they plan to downgrade fare-dodging, but they are looking into it. They demand public transport authorities do more in the way of prevention.
"Entrance checks are the best way to prevent fare-dodgers from riding trams and busses and to lighten the workload of the judiciary," the DRB said in a statement. "If transport authorities don't set up these entry checks for economic reasons, the taxpayer should not have to pay the price."
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All kinds of obstacles in the air
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Calling all pilots
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For cars too
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Sending out an SOS - if the motorcyclist can't
This is another systems that intervenes when humans don't. The dguard eCall-system for motor cyclists will detect a severe crash and automatically send an emergency call to first responders. eCall already exists for cars. For new cars it will become mandatory in the EU in 2018. Motorcyclists, who are more endangered, are exempted from this rule. They have to buy it if they want the safety.
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An emergency management system for public transport
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Ghostbuster against ghost drivers
Ghostbuster is the name of this gadget. It will detect ghost drivers at freeway exits - and alert them about their mistake. At the same time it will send out an emergency call and warn other drivers of the coming danger. Once installed, it will work for ages - powered by solar cells. The system was developed by Daniel Gillo, Julian Neu and Benjamin Kirsch from the university of Saarland.
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Detecting wild beasts by mobile phone
wuidi is designed to avoid accidents with wild animals. In Germany alone, such an accident happens every two minutes. A driver entering a potentially dangerous area will receive a notice - on the mobile phone or the GPS device. The data is more up to date than a old fashion traffic sign. wuidi also takes into account past accidents, weather and the rutting season.
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When the navigation device doesn't know further
Almost everybody who has eveb relied on a GPS device knows the situation: The device suggests an alternative route that's even more jammed than the freeway. PSIroads-MDS is designed to solve the problem. The traffic management system sends different drivers to a variety of different routes. That's good for the travellers and for the environment, since there are fewer traffic jams.
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Where are the dangers on my way to school?
Traffic education is most effective when kids can relate to it. The Fraunhofer IVI, therefore, developed FAPS, a system that identifies the most dangerous spots around schools and neighborhoods - based on real accident data. Then, schools receive this information to prepare educational projects - based on real threats.
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A new road, tram line or bus-lane?
HIGH-TOOL is designed to help politicians and planners in arriving at educated conclusions. The analytical tool can help estimate the aftereffects of today's decisions into the decades to come. It can process about 200 variables for urban planners. And it's not only made for politicians: Citizen initiatives and others can download and use the open source software - and develop their own ideas.
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'There have to be clear consequences'
On the other side of the tracks, the transport authorities vehemently oppose decriminalizing fare-dodging. Justice should not depend on the state budget, Oliver Wolff, director of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), told news agency dpa.
"I find this to be a declaration of bankruptcy by the state," Wolff said.
The VDV also claims that erecting entrance barriers would make little sense, since hop-on, hop-off busses and trams make up the bulk of public transport in Germany. Barriers would not work at stops that can be accessed from all different directions above-ground.
The public need to be aware that fare-dodging is not to be taken lightly, Wolff said.
"Riding without a valid ticket has to remain a crime according to the criminal code," he clarified. "There must be clear, deterrant consequences for people who continuously use services without paying for them. That's why a jail sentence is absolutely necessary as the final resort."
Going to jail for riding without a ticket? Some say that's a necessary deterrentImage: picture-alliance/Bildagentur-online/Schöning
Discussion in Berlin
The VDV director is not too worried about over-worked judges either. He points out that only a small fraction of fare-dodging cases ever get drawn out to a degree that would actually take up a lot of an attorney's or judge's time.
According to Wolff, the 7,600 fare-dodgers sent to jail in 2016 amounted to a mere three percent of all those who had been reported for repeatedly riding without a ticket.
Based on those numbers, "you really can't talk about the judiciary or the prisons being stretched too thin," Wolff said.
Next Monday, Wolff, Biesenbach and other legal and transport experts will debate the issue at a public panel discussion in Berlin. How it will develop from there is not yet clear.
So to be on the safe side, passengers should probably just buy a ticket.