One of the topics that we hear about most often here at TransLink is fare evasion and what we’re doing to stop it. Customers who pay the right fare understandably feel frustrated at the thought that there are people who don’t pay to use the system (also known as theft!).

Thankfully, it looks as if TransLink’s new powers of enforcement, along with a fare check blitz that started in the summer, are having an effect.

While we don’t have full fare evasion numbers yet – we have to wait for the results of our three annual fare audits for that – we do know that fare checks are up and the number of infraction tickets issued is down.

Let’s look at a comparison of the period September to November in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, we conducted 427,073 fare checks and gave out 9,221 violation tickets. In 2012 we conducted 586,129 fare checks, and gave out 8,898 bylaw infractions.

Doing the math, that’s 159,056 more checks, but 323 fewer tickets.

While it’s still too early to say that this is a clear trend, it does suggest that more people are paying their fair share. People seem to be more aware of the new penalties, and the fact that we’ve had increased fare enforcement on the system.

We’ll continue to track these figures in the coming months. And you can read online the full backgrounder with details of the legislation and what we know today about its impact so far.

Author: Tina Robinson