Modern technologies help inspectors in Kostroma check public transport and look for free riders. They determine the routes where there is the highest probability of meeting “hares.” The service is based on passenger traffic and the number of paid trips. Based on them, a forecast is issued.
Free riders are a problem that the regulatory organization has been trying to solve since the beginning of transport reform. Every day several groups of inspectors come out to check buses. Everyone has a special device. Verifiers connect to the driver’s validator to obtain transaction information. After this, passengers are checked. Those who paid for travel in cash present their tickets; those who paid with a card, apply it to the device. Most “hares” receive this status, inspectors say, due to inattention.
Vitaly Semenov, controller: “Most often, by mistake, when, say, one person puts in a card, a second one immediately, and, accordingly, the second one may not be able to process the payment, or for a short time they hold a card that is insufficient for payment, and the person simply does not notice that he is a ticketless person. ”
Controllers choose flights for inspections for a reason. They have a special application for this. The service offers a route based on data analysis over the past days.
Sergey Smirnov, director of the controlling organization: “They have mobile phones on which the program is installed. This program allows you to determine the presence of free riders on buses by the number of transactions and by passenger flow counting sensors. A forecast of the presence of free riders is given to them on their phone. They accept this bus for inspection and carry it out. If free riders are identified, representatives of the transportation organizer issue a decision to impose a fine.”
All data is analyzed in the control center. This diagram shows passenger flow. The red line is the number of free riders as a percentage. According to the graph, it turns out that yesterday, yesterday there was a decrease to 7%.
The economics of transportation depend on the number of free riders. If their numbers do not begin to decrease, then fares will likely have to increase. This means that conscientious passengers will have to pay for the hares. The issue of increasing the fine for violators to 5,000 rubles is now being decided. Because among the “hares” there are also those who deliberately travel for free.
Natalia Lisenkova, leading expert of the department of the State Public Institution “Organizer of Transportation of the Kostroma Region”: “At the moment we entered and he does not have payment, he is a stowaway. Even if payment was made during control, he is still a stowaway.”
Now the inspectors are waiting for the implementation of the new function. It will allow validators to be blocked as soon as controllers enter the bus. This will help you avoid paying tolls after the check begins.
