OASTH is trying to put a ‘brake’ on ticket evasion

As of 1/12, the OASTH inspectors will be almost double inside and outside the buses, in an effort with preventive and sudden controls to put a “brake” on the phenomenon of ticket evasion that is observed and that “shakes” the viability of the organization, as pointed out during today’s press conference.

“Ideally we do not want to impose any fines,” said the president and CEO of OASTH, Professor George Skodras. Noting that the agency has no other source of revenue, he called on passengers to pay for their ticket, which he assured would not increase.

“We want to give the feeling that the validation of the tickets is being controlled in order to prevent the fine”, he noted and announced that at the beginning of 2022, with the aim of the correct use of public transport, but also the fight against ticket evasion, OASTH will “run” a campaign , in order to be re-introduced to the passenger. At the same time, with an awareness campaign for the passenger public, which will emphasize the younger ages, the goal is to make it clear why the passenger public must validate their ticket.

86% of OASTH’s revenues come from the state

“We need to ensure the competitiveness and quality of public transport services so that they are attractive to the public and not a necessary evil, but we need to ensure that there is no ticket evasion,” the ministry’s secretary general said in a statement. Infrastructure and Transport, Giannis Xifaras, saying characteristically “today 86% of OASTH revenues relate to state money and the ratio compared to revenues from fares, which is at 14%, must change in order to make the organization viable.”

As Mr. Xifaras said “a big gap was filled in relation to what we inherited”, but “there is still a long way to go” while analyzing the actions and movements that have taken place so far and through which 500 buses circulate in the city streets.

In 90 out of 47 today the auditors from 1/12

Referring to the auditors, the Director of Revenue Assurance of the Organization Mr. Chr Hadjigeorgiou said that in August 2021, the audit work on behalf of OASTH was performed by 47 people and from December 1 will amount to 90.

The “Stationary Inspectors”, who will be visible to the passenger public, after wearing the OASTH insignia on their clothes, will be inside the organization’s buses along the entire route, while they will urge the validation of the tickets or ask citizens to check their unlimited travel card when boarding at terminals.

At the same time, from 1/12, there will be a control assistance from the driver of the city bus, as he said. Specifically, the front door of the buses will “open” (after the installation of a special, transparent divider) and so the driver will be able to perform a visual inspection. In the meantime, the surprise checks that are already being carried out will continue with undiminished intensity, as he added.

Regarding the controls and the fines, OASTH proceeds with a series of actions, among which is the issuance of the fines that will be done electronically, with the use of “smart” mobile phones and portable printers. There will be a universal application of special software for the real-time connection of the controllers with the integrated information system of OASTH and use of the functional application of the controller, so that it can control the intangible tickets that the passengers will buy through the mobile mobile application.

Regarding the phenomenon of ticket evasion, the president and CEO of OASTH also pointed out that “before nationalization the organization imposed 4,000-7,000 fines and during the nationalization period of the organization these were zeroed”. He stressed that “they can not measure the exact amount lost due to non-validation of tickets by the passenger public.

Among other things, Mr. Skodras stressed that in April 2020 OASTH recorded only 184,000 euros in revenue, when in 2014 the annual amounted to 55 million euros, while today they range from 1.2 to 1.3 million euros per month. He underlined that “in the first half of 2022 we expect to reach the level of 2.5-3.5 million euros / month”. Present at the press conference was the head of the union of OASTH employees, Giannis Dimkas.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ