In Besançon, a “fraudometer” in buses to fight free riders

Each year, public transport fraud costs communities, and therefore taxpayers, millions. In an attempt to reduce the bill and encourage users to adopt a more civic attitude, the agglomeration of Besançon, in the Doubs, is experimenting on two of its bus lines (4 and 5) with a “fraudometer“. The tool, which appeared on May 9, is a first in France.

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Operation is simple. At each stop, a system counts the number of passengers entering and leaving the bus. At the same time, another tool counts the validations. After which a simple subtraction is enough to determine the number of passengers without a valid title in the train. Depending on the number of people in good standing, a message is then displayed for “congratulate», «to encourage» or failing that, «to alert» passengers on board. The trial should last until July 2022. It will then be deployed on the other lines of the Ginko network if the results of the experiment are successful.

This innovation was developed in partnership between Keolis, public transport operator for the Besançon conurbation, and a Lyon firm specializing in behavioral sciences.

Improve the effectiveness of controls

If for the moment the tool is intended to be more of an incentive than a punitive one, it should eventually allow the teams of inspectors to know in real time the trains to be inspected. More broadly, this system will give an overall view of the stops, lines, timetables… where fraud is most present. This should make it possible to draw up more effective control plans for the days and weeks that follow.

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Currently, the inspection teams, present 7 days a week on the Ginko network, carry out 30,000 inspections per month. This does not prevent the fraud rate from reaching 12% in the agglomeration. A loss of earnings which amounts to around one million euros per year.