The National Transport Authority is offering a contract worth more than €3 million for the supply of fare evasion surveys to be carried out on public transport networks across the country.
In the notice posted on Government procure platform, eTenders, the estimated value of the contract is listed as €3,022,735, which is intended to secure almost 300,000 survey records over the course of the contract’s 48 month duration.
“The purpose of the Services is to undertake Fare Evasion Surveys (FES) on board Public Transport Services for bus and rail across the state and determine the fare evasion rate for each of these services at the network level and at more disaggregate levels,” the project overview in the Request for Tender document reads.
A total of 15,200 individual passenger FESs are required to be completed per quarter, the survey described as a “critical piece of work” for the NTA and the other transport contractors that rely on its results.
The contracted transport services that will be surveyed as part of the project include: Dublin region bus services (currently contracted to Dublin Bus and Go Ahead Ireland); the east coast commuter corridor (currently contracted to Bus Éireann); regional, city, town and rural bus services (currently contracted to Bus Éireann and other operators); Waterford City bus services (currently contracted to Bus Éireann); DART and commuter rail Services (currently contracted to Irish Rail); and intercity/regional rail services (currently contracted to Irish Rail).
FESs for Luas services (contracted to Transdev) may be required during the duration of the agreement, applicant organisations are also informed.
The NTA warns that some of the kinds of fraud that may be identified by the supplier include passengers not paying the correct fare; out-of-date prepaid tickets; not having the required photo identity card with a travel pass from the Department of Social Protection; using another person’s personalised leap card; and not having an in-date student leap card.
Similarly, fare evasion is defined in the draft contract as any practice by passengers which leads to a loss of farebox revenue, including travelling without a ticket; travelling with a Leap card which has not been validated; travelling on an invalid ticket (e.g. an adult travelling on a child ticket); travelling beyond the zone of the ticket; travelling on date-expired tickets; improper use of another person’s ticket; or any other form of avoiding paying the correct fare.