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City metro may revive turnstiles

High rate of freeloaders, inspector run-ins prompt interest in old ticket system

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
January 23rd, 2008 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Inspectors position themselves at the top of the Můstek station's elevators Jan. 18, where turnstiles could be installed, replacing the current ticket stampers.
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It’s a sight inadvertently linked to the Prague metro system: When ascending the escalator at a busy station, passengers encounter a barricade of uniformed workers from whom there is no escape. Flashing their gleaming badges, the inspectors pull each of the passengers aside as they step off the conveyor, instigating a wild search through pockets, purses and backpacks as they rummage for their ticket or metro pass. Such a “sting” took place Jan. 18 at the Můstek station, netting a profitable number of freeloading passengers.
Metro ticket inspectors have been bringing those who dare ride without paying the fare, or “black passengers,” to justice since the mid-1980s. But, with city and Public Transit Company (DP) officials looking to cut financial losses caused by nonpaying passengers, ticket inspectors may be replaced with electronic turnstiles within the next three years, DP General Manager Martin Dvořák announced Jan. 18.
Although the turnstiles were originally a part of the city metro in the years following its 1974 opening, the DP dismantled them in the mid-1980s, emulating the metro systems in Austria and Germany.
According to preliminary estimates by city officials, installing the turnstiles in the city’s 53 metro stations will cost more than 1 billion Kč ($56 milion). “Re-implementing turnstiles in the metro is a possibility, but it would be very expensive,” said Prague city transportation Councilman Radovan Šteiner.
But, with an estimated one-fourth of all passengers riding the metro illegally at any given time, the DP sees these high installation costs as a positive investment.
“It would increase our profits — it’s worth it,” Dvořák told the daily Lidové noviny (LN) Jan. 18. “What’s more, we would be able to station the spare ticket inspectors for the above-ground transport system.”
According to company spokesman Ondřej Pečený, the DP will make its final decision in March, based on the results of a study assessing the costs and benefits of the project. “The study should tell us what conditions, investments and measures need to be taken to put the turnstiles in place,” he said. “Most importantly, we want to determine the returns of these investments.”
Cracking down
The electronic turnstiles are just one of the methods through which the DP and City Hall want to discourage illegal riders. As of Jan. 1, the on-the-spot fine for riding on the Prague transport system without a ticket rose to 700 Kč, which is 200 Kč more than such fines were last year. (A monthly pass, for example, rose from 460 to 550 Kč.)
According to Pečený, this increase coincides with the overall rise in public transport fares this year.
“The consequences for illegal passengers are tougher now,” he said. “We want to make it clear that we value our passengers for paying the increased fare by refusing to tolerate the nonpayers.”
For violators who are unable to pay the fine directly to the inspector, the fine remains set at 950 Kč, despite Prague Deputy Mayor Rudolf Blažek’s previous plans to double this sum. “It should stop being profitable for people to ride without a ticket and just pay the fine every so often,” he told the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) in November.
According to Pečený, the DP was unable to raise the fines because of a law that sets the maximum metro and tram fine at 1,000 Kč.
“If this sum exceeded 1,000 Kč, it would significantly raise the court fees associated with the collection process, and the overall amount would climb enormously,” he said.
Last year, the 140 ticket inspectors currently working for the Prague transport system issued about 230,000 fines, collecting more than 101 million Kč.
But not all fines were handed over willingly. The DP recorded 57 incidents during which a passenger attacked an inspector, and 27 of these attacks resulted in injury. “The work of a ticket inspector is a very demanding occupation that involves dealing with violence and passenger aggression,” Pečený said. “Compared with other types of work at the DP, it’s definitely one of the most strenuous.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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[14:40 28/01/2008] : The biggest reason why people ride without tickets is the lack of inspection. Being inspected once a month and paying the fine is even cheaper than purchasing a monthly pass. The fines should be increased, as well as the number of inspectors, and they should make the checks more frequent at other stations rather than concentrating on Mustek or Muzeum.
Caner Cengiz
Istanbul
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