This is a new tool that will make fraudsters tremble. Controllers from SNCF, RATP and four other public transport operators will be able to check, from Wednesday January 8, the addresses of users without a transport ticket. The objective? Ensuring that the fine imposed on them arrives safely, a way to improve the recovery rate.
“Fraud, perceived as an injustice by other users, represents a shortfall estimated at around 700 million euros per year throughout the country. This system will make the addresses of offenders more reliable to optimize the recovery of fines,” indicates in a press release the Union of Public and Rail Transport (UTPF), the professional union of the sector.
This system “validated by the CNIL”, the policeman for the protection of personal data and called “Stop Fraude”, will allow transport companies to check “at the end of the day” if the address given by the fraudster is the correct onethanks to the files of the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP), provided that the person has given their true identity.
A device intended to expand
Six companies have financed the system and will launch it on Wednesday: SNCF, RATP, Keolis, Transdev, RTM (Marseille public transport network) and Tisséo (the Toulouse network), said a representative of the UTPF to the AFP. The other networks will in turn be able to adopt it within three months.
According to the UTPF, half of the 700 million euros in unrecovered fines is borne by the SNCF, and the other half is shared between the RATP and the other urban transport networks. The amount of fraud at RATP amounts to 171 million euros per year.
“Fraud is a scourge which greatly reduces the capacities of communities and public transport operators in terms of equipment renewal, transport provision, and travel comfort,” argues the professional union.
At the moment, inspectors will not be able to check the violator’s address during the inspection, but this possibility is included in the bill for “strengthening security in transport”tabled by the senator (LR) of Alpes-Maritimes Philippe Tabarot, who became Minister of Transport, reports to the UTPF.
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