Metro fare dodgers busted in crackdown

By Dong Zhen  |   2008-12-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MORE than 100 Metro fare evaders were seized and fined the maximum penalty during a four-hour crackdown on Monday afternoon.

The city's Metro operators launched the crackdown in the wake of increasingly rampant ticket evading on local Metro lines.

The four-hour crackdown focused on several large hub stations including People's Square Station and Zhongshan Park.

The violators were each fined the maximum penalty of 45 yuan (US$6.57), said the Shanghai Metro Operation Co Ltd.

Different tricks are used to evade fares. The simplest and most commonly is to crawl under the barriers at the turnstile. But other fare evaders use more aggressive tactics.

"Once I was pushed aside by a passenger right after I swiped my transport card on the machine," said one Metro rider. "He waltzed through the barriers and left me in trouble."

The innocent rider said he was forced to crawl under the turnstile, which he found disgraceful.

"I think it wasn't a one-off incident," he said. "It always happens in rush hours. Fare evaders are using us to get out of buying tickets and they leave us feeling embarrassed."

Metro operators also caught some people using their elderly parents' special cards to take free rides. The local government has issued cards that let locals aged 70 and over take free Metro rides. Three middle-aged passengers were caught at Nanjing Road E. station using cards that had been issued to their parents.

There were also some who used counterfeit certificates to take free rides. In China, these certificates are issued only to injured and disabled former soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and the families of government-recognized martyrs.

"During the crackdown, about 100 people were caught evading tickets while a dozen others were caught using fake certificates or seniors' cards," said Huang Qiongnuo, a Metro official.