He fulfilled, last December, his first century of life. He did it with record figures and closing 2024 with 469 million validations, 6.5% more than in 2023. The day that more people traveled in the suburban was in Sant Jordi with a total of 2.5 million validations. There had never been such low fraud figures. Last year, if they had validated the title they were traveling with. Only 2.24% (788 people) had sneaked into the subway without a ticket or using the card that did not touch them like that of a minor or a retiree. In 2023 the number of fraudors was 2.5% and in 2019 of 3.5%.
About twenty people – among those who are auditors, private vigilantes and Mossos d’Esquadra – take positions in the corridors of the station and, quickly, form a human barrier. From this moment on, no one will pass without it being proven to have validated the corresponding ticket. “It is very exceptional to find travelers without ticket. It is also true that there are clueless people or some who believe that transport should be free. Still, now people pay more. In times of crisis the fraud was much higher, ”explains the auditor Luis García, who has been checking whether passengers travel or not after having validated their titles.
When the passengers run into the human barrier of TMB uniformed, nobody resists showing the card and tickets. Before 2020, 45% of users were traveling with the T-10, the equivalent to the T-Cassual (the card that allows 10 trips). Now only 15% of users use these multiviajes cards and the CEO of TMB, Xavier Flores, ensures that the fall in the number of frauds has a lot to do with the bonus of transport titles such as the T-Jove or the T-ustual. “When people travel with a very affordable flat rate, they think about it long before committing fraud. The discounts, and the fact of being able to recharge the titles on the mobile have been basic for the fall of fraud, ”says Flores.
The device prepared at the Sagrada Família station is in a key zone that comes the traveler from where it comes – there is a transford between the L2 and the L5 – it stops the review barrier. Paco Muñoz is responsible for Metro Audorters: “Three times a year we carry out intensive campaigns. Today’s is the beginning of the year, we make one before summer and the last one in the last quarter. ” The public company has 60 auditors and nine controls that are distributed throughout the metro network in morning and night morning shifts.
100% of the passengers who have been asked for the ticket at this point on the line had “chopped” before the lathes pass. Ricardo Ortega is responsible for the safety and civil protection of the Barcelona Metro: “These campaigns, regardless of other controls, are very effective since they contain and decrease the number of people who sneak.” Ortega says that fraudsters generate a bad perception to the rest of the travelers: “When you see someone sneak in, your perception of insecurity increases.” He also says that there are accidents because of the fraudsters, especially those who with less ability from which they expected jump or replace through the lathes falling and harming themselves. Others sneak into the payment zone after accessing the doors destined at the exit. Ortega also points to those who are placed behind a passenger who crosses the toll line after validating his ticket. They take advantage of the barriers open and pass to a few centimeters from which the title has paid. “That is bothering the one who pays,” he laments.
The fine for travel without a ticket is 100 euros. “If you pay, to the auditor itself, in cash or by card, it applies a 50%discount,” Muñoz explains. In the event that the offender uses the title of a retiree, minor or other nominal title that does not correspond to it, in addition to the fine, the fertilizer used fraudulently is disabled. After requested the ticket to hundreds of people, without any traveling without having validated the title, the control of the auditors decides to transfer all of them to another station knowing that less and fewer people sneak in the Barcelona Metro.
