100 railway passengers fined in fare dodging crackdown

Authorities fined more than 100 railway passengers for fare dodging during a two-hour crackdown on the practice at Shanghai Railway Station Monday morning, local media reported.

Shanghai Railway Station officials and railway police conducted the crackdown from 7:30 am to 9:30 am, according to a report in the Shanghai Evening Post.

Most of the fare dodgers were caught sharing tickets or sneaking into the departure area through an exit, the report said.

Some fare dodgers try to talk their way into the departure area by telling officials that they just want to see a friend off, Dong Bilian, a press officer for Shanghai Railway Station, told the Global Times.

For long trips, some fare dodgers buy tickets to the nearest destination and simply stay on the train.

Fare dodging was most prevalent on the Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou railway lines, especially on Friday afternoons, the report said.

Fare dodgers who are caught have to pay for their full fare, as well as a fine of half the fare price.

The fare dodging experience will also be added in the fare dodgers' personal credibility records, the report said.

The Shanghai Railway Bureau caught 14,000 fare dodgers in random inspections during the first seven months of this year.

Inspectors at the Shanghai Railway Station once caught 300 fare dodgers in one day. They found 40 fare dodgers on a bullet train carrying 500 passengers, according to the report.