Is Hungary amongst the top fare-dodging countries?

Although the epidemiological situation and free public transport for some people will have affected the data in 2020 and probably will in 2021, too, BKK summarised the fare-dodging statistics of last year.

According to telex.hu, the number of people who have to be fined has been steadily declining since 2015, which is probably also due to the fact that BKK has been stricter with fare-dodgers for some years now, has made ticket control and the process of fining fare-dodgers more efficient, and, “in 2019, by recruiting hundreds of new employees, it has changed the culture of ticket controlling, and all these changes are also reflected in passengers’ attitudes.”

Let’s see what this means in numbers:

In 2020, 133,000 passengers were fined, which is one-third of the figure from five years ago. In 2015, 364,000 passengers were fined.
The number of those who pay the fine on the spot has nearly doubled since 2015, increasing from 49 thousand to 88 thousand. The amount of the fine is thus reduced to half (to HUF 8,000 – €22). The growing trend stopped in 2020; according to BKK, this is due to the decline in passenger numbers that the epidemic brought with it.
There is also a negative record: in 2020, the amount of money paid in fines actually increased again. After the legal proceedings, the largest lump sum payment was HUF 2.7 million (€7,780), which was brought on by 14 enforcement proceedings on the basis of 65 fines. But they also collected a HUF 1.8 million and a HUF 1.5 million fine.

BKK writes that tens of thousands of orders for payment and enforcement proceedings are initiated each year against those who use public transport services without a ticket or pass. Between 2015 and 2020, BKK initiated more than 200,000 orders for payment and more than 146,000 enforcement proceedings. Ticket control is no longer done through an external contractor but with their own staff in all cases, who are said to be polite, helpful, and able to help, so passengers have more confidence in them. Another advantage is that they can speak a foreign language in addition to Hungarian.

Source: telex.hu