Fare evasion is best countered (and success measured) by raising the expectation that you WILL be caught not by the number of people caught Many European system have fairly frequent fare inspections and from casual observation the rate of people caught is very low. That proves the system is working NOT that it isn't. Red light cameras, speed cameras etc work on the same basis.
Sure, and
@Mihairokov can speak for himself, but i don't think he was suggesting that fare enforcement should be scant or absent.
Rather he was opposing 'mob tactics'..........specifically the use of plain clothes fare enforcement, and bullying, physical tactics.
I fully agree with him on these points.
If someone in plain clothes jumps out in front of me and puts their hands on me, I would be more than offended, I would likely assume I was being assaulted/mugged and respond accordingly.
Non-starter. Law enforcement should always be visible, easily identifiable and should not use unreasonable tactics.
Plain clothes people as 'spotters' is fine, but enforcement must be carried out by uniformed personnel.
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Also, we do need proportionality when it comes to cost/benefit analysis. We already had 100 people in the Fare Enforcement unit, who spent much of the last 2 years issuing next to no cautions or tickets.
I'm not sure why we need more when we barely use the staff we have.
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I will report here, to my amusement, I saw fare enforcement, visible and actually enforcing at Main Station yesterday.
Further, they actually had people on the bus platform tagging people walking in via the bus driveway. Yay!