Two over-zealous ticket inspectors have given their bosses a public relations black eye while giving out tickets for fare-beating, one in Naples and one in the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
Many European transit systems rely on an honor system enforced by inspectors who spot-check to make sure passengers have tickets and issue on-the-spot fines if they don’t.
In Schaffhausen, a five-year-old girl traveling with her ten-year-old sister was fined €100 for not having a ticket. Children under six travel free, but only if they are accompanied by someone twelve or over, a fact the children’s family, and many others, didn’t know. After several days of bad PR, CH-Direct, the operator, canceled the fine and said the inspector should have used “scope for discretion.”
A similar outcome developed in Naples, where a woman in labor got on a hospital-bound bus without her purse, cash or ticket; she had been out for a walk to relieve contractions and discomfort when her labor suddenly accelerated. The inspector fined her €71 and made her get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to the hospital. After she gave birth, she complained, only to have the bus company uphold the fine—until the story blew up on social media and got her an apology and a refund.,
