Ticket control
Through ticket inspection , Switzerland Billet control is to ensure that persons who are at public transport use a valid ticket have and asked for their transportation fee paid. So-called fare dodgers who are noticed during this inspection can be prosecuted under civil and criminal law .
Although the person being carried is often referred to as a passenger , they should not infer that they have been invited to the journey when they are checked; therefore the term traveler is used instead in the conditions of carriage , driving customer would also be conceivable . Is avoided in official texts, the term dodgers .
The control mechanisms are partly the same for the ticket control as for the control of admission tickets .
Type of control
Different types of controls can be characterized by their point in time and also according to whether they are carried out regularly or randomly. The possible times are considered below.
Before entering the means of transport
Special checks are not necessary if a ticket has to be bought when entering the means of transport and the scope of the transport service to be provided is known at this point, for example because the means of transport only travels a fixed route, such as a mountain railway with a mountain and a valley station. Selling or checking the ticket when entering is also otherwise effective if, in relation to the travel time, passengers can only rarely get on, such as in a long-distance bus or touring bus (in contrast to a city-center bus). In order to avoid that passengers secretly continue the journey beyond the amount paid for, further checks would have to be carried out during the journey or when disembarking.
In order to be economical at many entry points, controls can be automated before entering the means of transport. There are z. B. automatic platform barriers ( access machines) in front of the subway platform, which a person let through after they have inserted (and received back) the ticket. However, depending on the design, such systems can be bypassed ( turnstile jumping ), which in terms of control should lead to the perpetrator being prosecuted; in addition, they are not suitable for several people traveling with one ticket. For above-ground entry points, especially bus stops, where such machines are not practical, vehicle-based systems offer an (even more inconvenient) alternative.
Ticket checks when entering the means of transport are economical where security checks are necessary anyway, such as in air traffic or in Eurostar train traffic through the Eurotunnel . The control can also be carried out by the staff who are already on board to serve the passengers, for example on excursion boats with entertainment.
While driving
Ticket controls during the journey take place either regularly or on a random basis, although regular controls are reserved for Deutsche Bahn trains due to the higher staffing costs, such as long-distance trains, but local trains are usually accompanied by railway staff ( conductors ). On DB long-distance trains, tickets are not only provided with a pincer imprint, a small hole is also punched in the cards (see illustration in the section on validation ).
Control with purchase option
It can be cheaper for railway companies to sell tickets on local trains than to operate ticket machines or ticket sales points at all stops . Likewise, on long-distance trains ( ICE , InterCity , EuroCity ) regular checks are combined with the option of buying tickets at a later date. The focus here is not on discovering fare dodgers, but on ensuring or enabling the purchase of tickets for all passengers, which is also a service provided by the transport company (e.g. for passengers who spontaneously board a long-distance train). The service concept should also be in the foreground when it comes to ticket controls on excursion boats.
However, if there are enough purchase options before the journey, tickets bought during the journey are sometimes more expensive than in advance sales, especially if the passenger does not yet have a ticket, i.e. not just a connecting ticket (to extend the journey) or a transition ticket (when using a more expensive one Train or carriage class). This surcharge is intended to compensate for the additional work for the staff who sells the tickets and also to make purchasing during the journey less attractive for passengers, because the transport company runs the risk of not being able to control or serve all ticket-free passengers during the journey.
From a legal point of view, passengers are obliged to participate in this regular form of inspection by responding to the conductor's question “Have you got on? The tickets, please. ”(But only then) make it noticeable so as not to commit fraud .
Control with no purchase option
Random checks are carried out in buses , trams , suburban trains and underground trains . Because of the low probability of being discovered as a ticketless passenger through such a control, the possibility of buying tickets at a later date is out of the question, not even at higher prices. Even the "increased transport fee" demanded by fare dodgers (usually double the fare, but at least € 60) is only to be seen as a first sanction, which is associated with the identification of personal details for the purpose of identifying repeat offenders and, if necessary, initiating further legal steps. It is therefore no longer customary or possible to compensate the fare dodger by immediately paying the increased transport fee to the inspector. Conversely, the inspector is also not entitled to demand the increased transport fee immediately in cash from the fare dodger, but this is sometimes done by “self-appointed” ticket inspectors with fraudulent intent.
As long as there is no criminal prosecution due to illegal driving, the civil law claims remain lower than the unpaid transport fees, depending on the frequency of discovery. This suggests the idea of a " dodger insurance at hand" that could take over for a premium that is lower than would be the fare, such civil claims. If such insurances are privately organized and offered to a limited extent (both locally and in terms of capitalization), however, transport companies can counter this with increased controls in the short term. Such flexibility is particularly possible when external companies carry out the control; which is all the more likely as it is no longer seen as part of the transport service without the service function of subsequent ticket sales. As an incentive for the external inspectors, they can receive a commission (critics speak of a bounty ) for each identified fare dodger, like DB conductors also for tickets sold on the train.
A check without a purchase option is only justified if passengers can buy the ticket when or before entering the means of transport. In buses and trams it is possible to buy directly from the driver or from a machine installed in the vehicle, and earlier also to validate multiple tickets (so-called stripe tickets) (cheaper than single tickets ). Today, drivers are usually only issued more expensive single tickets to discourage passengers from making this type of purchase, which distracts the driver from driving. Previously purchased single or multiple tickets must immediately after the entry into this transport by the passenger himself devalued be. With these options, no passenger can claim that buying tickets was impossible.
Control in everyday clothes
In order to avoid that tickets are only validated when an inspector is present, the validators can
- be switched off before the start of the control (after all passengers willing to validate have validated) or
- emit a tone when used, which draws the inspector's attention to "just-in-time" invalidating fare dodgers, or
- print the time of validation on the ticket.
Both can be carried out if the inspectors get on in everyday clothes and are recognized by the driver, who then switches off the validator (and possibly the ticket machine). Such checks are carried out with several inspectors at the same time in order to complete the inspection in the short time between two stations or before any dodgers can leave the means of transport.
When leaving the means of transport
Own controls are unnecessary if the fee is paid after the journey has been carried out before leaving the means of transport, as in a taxi . However, dealing with passengers unwilling to pay is similar to dealing with fare dodgers during an inspection.
On inland vessels , tickets that are only bought on board are checked when you leave the vessel. Because of the small number of landing stages, the seller / inspector often has an overview of the number of passengers who have to get off at a particular landing stage and can thus prevent secret journeys.
In Germany, train tickets must also be kept after leaving the train until the demarcated railway area has been left, as they serve as proof of authorization to stay on a railway system and can thus be checked by railway employees.
devaluation
A ticket cannot be withheld during a control if it has to be checked again during the further course of the journey, be it on a different train or after a change of personnel on the same train. For this reason, or because it should remain with the passenger, it is ensured by validation that a ticket cannot be used for another journey after its validity has expired.
The simplest form of validation is tearing or punching the ticket, while tearing off a specially perforated part ( tear-off ) allows several stages of validation:
- A return ticket can have two sheets for a return trip.
- A breakdown can indicate that a ticket was sold at full price; In the event of a discount, it will be torn off when it is sold so that a later inspector can recognize the discount and check its entitlement (with a student ID ).
Even more information emerges from a cancellation made by a cancellation stamp (self-cancellation by the passenger) or a pincer impression (by a conductor). The date contained therein is also the start of validity, and the ticket is valid for a certain period of time (about two days for a train journey). In transport associations whose tariff area is divided into zones (or “honeycombs”), the location of the stamp also determines the spatial validity (for example three zones including the boarding zone).
Stripe tickets are multiple tickets with e.g. B. 20 strips, of which a certain number must be stamped when entering. In this way, the amount of the paid transport fee is determined by the position of the cancellation stamp, the strips are used up like cash, so to speak.
Ticket controls in literature
Situations in which a passenger jumps to the side of a (supposed or real) fare dodger during a ticket inspection can be found among other things. a. in the children's novel Emil and the Detectives and in the film Bitter Moon . In the novel Five red herrings of Dorothy Sayers is based on an alibi of forgery of pliers prints the ticket inspectors on the train.
Probably because of the many controversial questions, there are some stories about ticket control that can be considered modern myths , such as the myths The Punker in the U-Bahn and Bimbo in books by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich . Both ideas (eating up the ticket and xenophobia ) are found combined in the short film dodger ; a stanza about bimbo is also contained in a song by the Blattuß brothers from the 1980s.
A film scene from the US adventure film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade : When the protagonist in a zeppelin throws one of his Nazi persecutors out of the aircraft after a fist fight, the other passengers appear completely shocked. To calm the situation, Jones pretends to be a ticket inspector who has just thrown a fare dodger out of the window (Jones, pointing to the open window: "No ticket!" - in the German synchronization - in the original version "No Ticket!" "). There was a pastiche of the scene in the film Dogma on board a train. In Lola Run , fate begins in the Berlin subway .
Individual evidence
- ↑ For the board price at Deutsche Bahn, see Conditions of Carriage ( Memento of the original dated September 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of Deutsche Bahn AG, 3.9 Increased fare, board price
- ↑ For the board price at ÖBB, see ÖBB Personentarif , II.9 Issue of tickets on the train, board price
- ↑ For the situation at SBB, see passengers without a valid ticket (PDF; 170 kB)
- ↑ For the legal situation in Germany, see legal review at the University of Marburg , example on p. 2
- ↑ Katja Timmerberg: Analysis of empirical data on §265a StGB: Creeping benefits - "Schwarzfahren" , p. 17
- ↑ Announcement ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Westfalen-Blatt
- ↑ DB Conditions of Carriage, 2.3 Obligation to validate tickets
- ↑ Erich Kästner : Emil and the detectives , p. 72ff (sixth chapter). Berlin: Cecilie Dressler Verlag 120 1975, ISBN 3-7915-3012-7
- ↑ Rolf Wilhelm Brednich: The Spider in the Yucca Palm , Story No. 24. Munich: CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1990, ISBN 3-406-57037-2
- ↑ Rolf Wilhelm Brednich: The rat on the straw , story No. 19. Munich: CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1996, ISBN 3-406-39256-3
