Ticketless travel in Romania

[Oscar]

The German national news website, www.tagesschau.de, has recently published an article about ticketless travel in Romania.

Here is an excerpt of it.

Romania clamps down on ticketless travel
Corrupt guard has some explaining to do

Train travel is not just expensive in Germany. In Romania passengers are reacting to this of their own accord - 40 percent don't buy tickets. Instead they simply pay the guard half of the official fare as a bribe. Now film recordings of the secret deals have been published.

The trains of the Romanian state railway CFR are nowadays mostly slower than at the time of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Since his fall in 1989 there has been little investment in either the network or the trains. Main reason: no money.

That's also hardly surprising as there is a long tradition of ticketless travel in Romania - corrupt guards are harmlessly colloquially called "Pasch" (godfather). Instead of buying a valid ticket, around 40% of all travellers pay the guard half of the official fare on the train as a bribe. The poorly paid state employee then turns a blind eye to this. [...]

Rumänien geht gegen Schwarzfahrer vor
Bestechliche Schaffner in Erklärungsnot

Bahn fahren ist teuer - nicht nur in Deutschland. In Rumänien reagieren die Passagiere darauf eigenwillig, 40 Prozent kaufen keine Tickets. Stattdessen zahlen sie einfach die Hälfte des offiziellen Fahrpreises als Schmiergeld an den Schaffner. Nun wurden Filmaufnahmen der heimlichen Geschäfte veröffentlicht.


Die Züge der staatlichen rumänischen Eisenbahn CFR fahren heutzutage meist langsamer als zu Zeiten von Diktator Nicolae Ceausescu. Seit dessen Sturz 1989 wurden weder Streckennetze noch Züge wesentlich erneuert. Hauptgrund: Kein Geld.

Das kommt auch kaum rein, denn Schwarzfahren hat in Rumänien eine lange Tradition – bestechliche Schaffner werden im Volksmund verharmlosend "Nasch" - übersetzt: Pate - genannt. Statt einen gültigen Fahrschein zu lösen, zahlen rund 40 Prozent aller Reisenden dem Kontrolleur die Hälfte des offiziellen Fahrpreises als Schmiergeld direkt im Zug. Der schlecht bezahlte Staatsbedienstete drückt dann ein Auge zu. [...]

Has anyone seen this happening?

 

[Zerothebrake!]

Yes it's common practice on the local 'P' trains that operate out there - the conductor will take them out into the corridor where one or two 1 Lei (20p) notes are exchanged for travel.Same goes for sleeping berths too - money goes straight into the back pocket...it's called the law of the jungle.

 

[185]

Used to be the same at Merseybus on night services, many years ago.

However, the 'corrupt' two drivers who used to drive the night bus, actually paid in more money than the (bone-idle) honest drivers, so were actually left alone until Arriva took over.

It was nicknamed 'magic modules' as one Wayfarer machine module was the working one, the other module they sneakily carried was an altered one, and didn't register anything sold. Pocketing £100 a night!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Bus drivers not putting the fare through the machine is not new ! - as a youngster on South Wales Transport with driver operated buses , after 8pm it was a case of "leave some money in the tray" - just in case an inspector turned up. ......usually 10p for a 30p fare or similar.

 

[reb0118]

Had two Romanian boys (well grown men actually) on my train yesterday. Offerred me a bribe to take them to Glasgow. They were off at the next stop! To be fair they were very polite about it.

They must have been doing the journey on a stop by stop basis as my driver saw them later on at Hartwood station later on in the evening.

Hey Ho!

 

[Flamingo]

I had a guy a few weeks ago offered me £10 for myself if I let him travel Pas-Swa 1st class. He was quite annoyed to be told I cost a lot more than that, so take himself, his bag and his £10 down to STD. And it wasn't in my job discription to carry his bag either.