Fare evasion (travelling without a valid ticket) is a serious problem affecting public transport worldwide. Not only does it cause significant revenue losses for transport operators, but also creates a feeling of unfairness and unease among paying passengers.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, reduced ticket inspections led to an increase in fare evasion rates at most transit networks.
Resuming traditional mass ticket controls, whereby proper social distancing is difficult to implement, and which require interpersonal interactions, is probably a risky way to curve down this increasing fare evasion trend.
We propose an alternative solution using selective, surgically targeted controls.