In 2024, more than 1 million cases of fare evasion were recorded in Switzerland, reported RTS. The number has more than doubled since 2019. Why? Data published by the public transport association Alliance Swisspass offer clues.
Switzerland keeps good records. The names of those caught without a ticket on public transport are entered into a national database known as Synserv, which was set up five years ago. The database makes it easy to identify repeat offenders across the country. The more times an individual is caught the higher the fines. Names recorded in the central registry are deleted after 2 years, wiping the slate clean.
Fines cost CHF 90 the first time someone is caught without a ticket. A second offence costs CHF 130 and fines thereafter cost CHF 160. Additional costs may also apply for payment reminders (CHF 40), legal proceedings (CHF 50), and debt collection. There is almost no leniency. The reasons why you don’t have a ticket are nearly always ignored.
In addition, unpaid fines in Switzerland can become a major headache. They eventually end up registered with the prosecutions and bankruptcy office. Once someone has an unpaid debt in the registry a wide range of doors close. Applying for a rental lease, citizenship applications, credit card, mobile phone and mortgage applications all typically grind to a halt.
The public cost of fare-dodging is high. Illegal travel is estimated to cost Switzerland around CHF 200 million a year.
Despite the penalties, downsides and collective cost of fare dodging, ticket cheats are on the rise. The annual number went from around 412,000 in 2019 to 1,008,000 in 2024. The majority were repeat offences. 61% were either second (14%) or third (47%) time infringements. The remaining 39% were for first time offences.
So what is going on?
Firstly, there are more people using the network. The total distance travelled by passenger rose 2% from 2019 to 2023. However, this hardly explains the big rise in fare-dodging.
There also appears to be a cultural shift. According to Michaela Ruoss, a spokesperson for Alliance Swisspass, there is a societal shift towards greater risk taking. Another factor is more ticket checking by transport operators, so more cheats are being caught.
According to Rolf Becker, a researcher of criminal behaviour at the University of Bern, there is no such thing as a typical ticket cheat. He thinks it comes down to a cost benefit analysis. If the combination of the probability of being caught and the cost are low enough, people will do it.
At the same time the data do show a pattern. More than a third of those fined were under 26 and a majority were men.
In addition, the problem is greater in French- than in German-speaking Switzerland. This too could be cultural. Much of the public transport network in French-speaking Switzerland connects to France, a nation where fare-dodging is endemic. By one estimate a third of travel on French public transport is illegal. This appears to have both cultural and financial drivers. Some French see the state as fair game. Stealing something from the government is often viewed as more acceptable than stealing something from a shop, for example. In addition, the cost of cheating on public transport in France is low. Checks are limited and fines are low. Syndicates in Paris brazenly offer insurance to cover fines. Often a monthly payment of as little as 10€ is enough to cover any fines, which in Paris range from 5€ to 60€, if paid on the spot. Speaking to the FT, sociologist Alain Mergier described French fare-dodging as an expression of “Frenchness”. “The French have a strange relationship with the law”, he said. “We demand rules and consider them essential for the smooth working of society, but we also reserve the right to break them.”
In Switzerland, things are different. The fines are higher, the checks more frequent and the record keeping better. The culture, which largely assumes people can be trusted, is also different. Swiss train stations have no turnstiles. However the culture in Switzerland appears to be changing.
If Bern University researcher Rolf Becker is correct, some combination of higher fines and more checking might be the best way to solve Switzerland’s fare-dodging problem.
Ticket cheating is essentially a free-rider problem. Honest folks who pay, end up paying for those who don’t. One roundabout way to fix this would be to set fines based on lost revenue. This way fare-dodgers would collectively pay for the tickets they never bought. So if the total cost was CHF 200 million and 1 million dodged fares were recorded, then setting the average fine at CHF 200 would balance the books. So if the current fines of CHF 90 for the first offence, CHF 130 for the second and CHF 160 thereafter were bumped up to CHF 90, CHF 200 and CHF 300 the books would probably balance and incentives would be aligned. Although it would be more efficient and prosocial if travellers were honest.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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