The tourist season is in full swing, and Prague's trams, buses and metros are packed. But not everybody is an ordinary passenger. Moving softly among the crowds are plainclothes officials in pursuit of fare dodgers.

For ticket inspectors — whose earnings depend on how many illegal travelers they catch — this is also peak season.

Stepping into the rush-hour throng at the Florenc metro station, Radim flashes his red-and-white inspector's badge, stopping a female passenger in her tracks. The woman digs into her purse, then produces a child's ticket instead of an adult fare.

Radim, who asked that his second name not be published, looks at the ticket dubiously, glances at a fellow inspector nearby, and waves her on.

Normally, he would be within his rights to hand her a 400 Kč ($16) fine. Nine times out of 10, that's what happens. But not this time — the woman is a foreigner.

"We were talking about tolerance toward foreign passengers," Radim tells a Prague Post reporter who has shadowed him all afternoon. "Well, look, this is tolerance in action."

Officials expect more than 3.5 million visitors to stay in Prague this year, and many will fall foul of the public-transport rules, which operate on an honor system. Instead of the turnstiles and barriers common in many countries, the Czech capital uses a team of 130 ticket controllers, an arrangement that dates to communist times.

Bitter memories

One common experience remains particularly hard to swallow for foreigners and frequently poisons holiday memories: a tourist who bought the right ticket but did not realize it had to be stamped for it to be valid.

Sitting in his Prague 2 office, Josef Hocek, head of the city's transport control department, says that inspectors are under orders to go easy on visitors from abroad. "We show great tolerance toward foreigners who use public transport without valid tickets," Hocek says, aware of the potential danger to the city's tourist reputation (See Letters, page A5). "By doing so, we in fact discriminate against Czechs who are caught doing the same ... [but] to be completely honest with you, not all foreigners who come to Prague are nice senior citizens or behave in a pleasant way."

Illustrating his point, Hocek digs into a file and produces a letter, sealed in a see-through plastic envelope, sent by a passenger furious at having been fined. The letter contains some of the stronger expletives in the English language, along with a Nazi swastika scrawled in blue ink, on paper smeared with excrement.

Hocek complains that foreigners often don't bother to find out how the Prague transport system works and just assume the rules from their home country apply. "I've been to 31 countries and haven't seen as much done for foreign visitors as we do here," he adds.

While inspectors have orders to show leniency to foreigners, they also have their own salaries to consider. An inspector earns on average 21,000 Kč per month, but only 5,000 Kč comes from basic pay; the rest represents a premium based on how many passengers the controller fines. Hocek, however, declines to disclose what percentage of each penalty an inspector receives for himself.

He estimates that about 7 percent of passengers "travel black," the Czech expression for fare evasion. And while a controller has complete discretion about whom he lets off, every such good-natured act costs him money.

Sometimes it becomes difficult to strike a balance, according to Robert, 29, who has worked as a controller for two years. Surveying the crowds at Florenc, Robert — who also asks that his last name not be published — says, "I don't want to be a hyena. Life is not just about money. I'm a Christian. If I see a pregnant woman with two children and a pram, sometimes I close my eyes. I will not check them; I check other people."

On the other hand, he says, a ticketless passenger who shouts, argues rudely or otherwise makes life unpleasant for an inspector will likely receive little mercy.

"We have days seeing only rude passengers, and that's hard," says Robert, who previously sold crystal in a downtown shop. "In general, society hates us. You are taking money from people."

Running the risks

The number of passengers riding black may increase after the July 1 fare hike, when the basic adult transfer ticket jumped from 12 to 20 Kč and the limited-transfer ticket climbed from 8 to 14 Kč. But penalties will also rise, starting Aug. 1.

Extracting fines from some travelers can be hazardous, and inspectors risk being shoved, punched or even bitten. Last year, an irate traveler sank his teeth into Robert's index finger. He shows the scar, still clearly visible.

Petr Novák, a senior controller, says that inspectors suffered about 60 injuries last year, including broken ankles and wrenched shoulders.

Radim, a 44-year-old divorcee who worked as a cook before becoming a controller in 2001, says that in his first year as an inspector an angry passenger broke his nose, sending him home for six weeks.

After the stress of an eight-hour shift, Radim likes to relax over a beer with his colleagues. "It's better to go share a beer and let off steam than to take home all [the built-up tension] inside," he says. He says, however, that some inspectors develop problems with alcohol, forcing them to leave the job.

Asked if his job has ever led him to be verbally attacked outside of work or shunned in social situations when people find out what he does for a living, Robert says he has had no bad experiences.

Radim adds, "We've got our own pubs that we go to. ... But when I go to other pubs, I sometimes do check and look around.

"Just in case."