In Berlin, an app helps fare-dodgers avoid ticket inspectors

A mobile app called FreiFahren ("Ride for Free") is gaining popularity in Berlin, allowing passengers to warn each other about ticket inspectors on the metro (U-Bahn) and city trains (S-Bahn). According to Berlin's transport operator BVG, fare-dodging costs the company around 25 million euros (roughly 605 million crowns) every year.

The concept is simple: as soon as a user spots an inspector at a station, they report it through the app. Other fareless passengers immediately see which stretches of the route to avoid in order to reduce the chance of running into a check.

Transport operator's reaction

BVG has voiced strong disapproval of the service. "Anyone who helps make it easier to travel without a valid ticket is supporting dishonest behaviour that honest passengers end up paying for, and that causes serious economic damage," the company said, as quoted by the German magazine Focus.

According to the German weekly, the app already has more than 55,000 users. Its audience has long since grown beyond the students it was originally designed for — the group it was aimed at after BVG scrapped discounted semester passes for pupils and students.

Prison time for unpaid fares

The app's creator, Johann Triloff, claims that "thousands of people" end up in German prisons every year because they cannot afford a transit pass and are also unable to pay the fine for riding without a ticket. As a result, they end up serving an alternative punishment — actual prison time.

According to him, at the end of March this year, 120 fare-dodgers were serving custodial sentences for this reason. Keeping one person in prison costs 200 euros (about 4,841 crowns) a day — meaning the state ultimately loses out too, the app's developer stresses.

His colleague David Brandes adds that the app's goal is not to harm the transport operator, but "to help low-income people who risk ending up behind bars simply for riding without a ticket."

According to German broadcaster RBB, BVG says it is "closely monitoring the situation and regularly analysing it." At the same time, the operator is considering possible legal action against the app's creators.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz