Staff passes ticket to free subway

After reports that staff passes were being illegally sold to commuters to ride the Beijing subway for free, subway operators said Wednesday they will crackdown on any passengers caught using them.  

"We have already caught a couple of passengers who used the fake passes today and have transferred them to the public security department; they will be punished according to the rules. And meanwhile, we have strengthened our efforts to survey and crackdown on this illegal behavior," said Jia Peng, spokesman from Beijing Subway Company which operates 13 of the 15 lines.

The cards issued cannot be used to enter the subway normally, instead they must be shown to a member of staff on duty, who will use their staff smart card to open the gates. 

Jia said that they issued a batch of these temporary cards for subway security guards two years ago, but most of them are about to expire soon. The cards they found were fake, he said.

"The subway system has many staff, including security guards and cleaners who need to get into and out of the station often, and it is not feasible to give all of them a staff smart card, so they use staff passes instead," said Jia. 

But a man surnamed Wang, who claimed that he can get hold of these passes, said the ones he sells are real. Wang's "friend" had posted on a Baidu Internet forum claiming he knew how to procure the passes, which would give free subway rides. 

"I got them from the subway staff; they cost 150 yuan ($24) each. The price will be cheaper if you buy more than three, and can be returned within three days if you are not satisfied," he said. The pass will last at least a year.

A commuter who bought one of these passes for 150 yuan last year said it can be used on every line he has taken, except the airport express. 

"I have been using it for about a year and don't have to pay. But when it's rush hour at some busy stations, it's not very convenient, so I use the ordinary card instead," he said.

Subway staff never question him, the commuter said.

"Sometimes, they'll open the special staff gate for me, sometimes they will press their magnetic card for me when I show them my pass," he said.

"No one ever asked me my identity, they just let me in. But even if they ask, I can just say I am a temporary security guard on the line I am riding," he said.

Staff at Jintaixizhao station on Line 10 and Dawanglu station on Line 1 said they had never seen these cards before, but they said they would let in people who have them.

"This card doesn't have a photo, which is unusual, but it's a temporary card, maybe some temporary staff use such cards, so it's OK," said one staff member at Dawanglu station.

An official at the station office said that they have received a notice, which said that recently some people are using fake "Beijing subway security guard temporary cards," and staff at the station should raise their awareness of them. If these cards are found, they should be confiscated, according to the notice, dated April 9.

According to rules on fare evasion, violators will be fined 10 times the ticket fee, which means a fine of 20 yuan.

The numbers of passengers who  successfully manage to evade paying fares on the Beijing subway system daily could be in the thousands.

Occasionally, smarts cards fail to work, and passengers pay at the exit.

On April 1, which is the first day of the "month of surveying and supervising tickets," at the rush hours in the morning and evening, as many as 11,000 people had to pay for a ticket at the exit, over 1,000 people were caught attempting to evade the fare and more than 100 expired, fake tickets or documents were confiscated, according to a report Tuesday on Beijing Subway Company's official website.

It is not known if Beijing MTR Corp, which operates Line 4 and the Daxing Line, has been affected.