Sorry for the strange question, but I’m British-Italian and have lived in many locations throughout the United Kingdom and Italy. In both countries, I’ve witnessed horrible incidents on public transportation when a ticket inspector was present. Particularly on buses and the tube. People especially in London, as in Rome and Milan, frequently fight, offend, and punch ticket inspectors simply because they do not want to pay the penalty or are just insane or drunk.
So, how’s it going in your country?
Is this a difficult job?
Do you think people respect a ticket inspector?
Have you seen aggressions like me?
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Have a great day!
7 comments
It is the same here. They are usually with police on night lines. Often with police in metro station. Some fight between inspectors and passangers happens too. Seems to me there is something in media every month
Over here in spain, very little. I assume they’d be arround 25.000 /year tops after years of working there. So, not much tbh.
And no. I’ve very rarely seen any violence. They always go in groups and ask for the ticket in the platform, not inside the train
There have been some violent incidents on the Vienna public transport, but I’d assume it’s not a very common thing, otherwise it wouldn’t have gotten that much media coverage.
In general, almost all of the cusomers have a yearly ticket since it is so cheap, there aren’t that many controls and not that many fare dodgers.
Aggression didn’t use to be much of an issue but it’s been increasing, especially the last few years when they also had to enforce Covid regulations. It’s in the news now every now and again that a ticket inspector got beat up. But the fact that it’s still news worthy every time suggests that it is still a rare occasion.
Rather easy in Tallinn as public transport is free for all city residents and they must only validate their public transport card. Non-residents must buy a ticket, but their share is small, so riding without a ticket (“riding a rabbit” in Estonian) is rare.
Very much. It’s the most hated job. On trains it’s the conductor who is checking the tickets, and if you misbehave you will be dropped off at nearest station with a hefty fine, or will have your way with the Railway Security Service, which is armed and not willing to piss around. In city transport, however, it’s really shitty.
I would say it’s challenging in Zagreb trams because until 15 years ago there were no inspectors so paying for public transport was basically voluntary in those times. Nowadays some people still ride without a ticket and they can be rude towards the inspector if caught, but usually it’s embarrassing for them and they don’t try to fight. The inspector can’t give them a fine if they can’t identify them, so they usually just exit at the next station or the inspector allows them to buy a ticket.
On trains it’s pretty easy because no one really tries to cheat there. On buses there are no inspectors, you can still ride them for free in Zagreb because neither the drivers check the tickets. In other cities you have to verfify your bus ticket when entering on first door.