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Penalties for fare evasion on buses and MRT trains kick in on Tuesday By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 July 2008 2206 hrs SINGAPORE: Penalties for fare evasion on buses and MRT trains kicked in on Tuesday. Under the new system, those who do not pay the correct fare will be fined 20 Singapore dollars while those who abuse concession cards face a penalty of 50 Singapore dollars. As of 3pm, 16 people had been caught for these offences, all of them bus commuters. At Tanjong Pagar MRT station, there is an average of two cases of fare evasion every month, mostly those abusing student concession cards. Since the penalty system was announced on May 2, ticketing operator TransitLink, which manages the ticketing system used on buses and MRT stations here, has issued over 10,000 warning letters. But from now, the guilty ones will be fined. TransitLink and the two public transport operators SBS Transit and SMRT conducted a public education campaign in May and June. All public transport officials will carry an identification card and issue a receipt once the fine is paid. Offenders can pay on the spot or at any of TransitLink's offices and Add-Value Machines located at bus interchanges and MRT stations. They have up to 14 days to do so. Any appeals should also be made within this time. An additional penalty of 1,000 Singapore dollars will be imposed on fare cheats if they do not pay their fine. The same penalty applies if one refuses to give their personal details, or provide false information to the public transport official. Repeat offenders may be fined 2,000 Singapore dollars or be jailed up to six months, or both. SBS Transit and SMRT said over 300 fare cheats are caught everyday but they believe the actual figure is higher. The new system is meant to help stem the loss of about nine million Singapore dollars each year from fare evasion. - CNA/vm ----------------------- http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...353201/1/.html 120000 cases of bus fare evasion were reported in a year. About half of the cases had commuters who failed to pay the full amount 328 cases a day on record.. at best can dig up only 16? overstated?