Germany 101
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Schwarzfahring for fun and profit?
You all might remember me being a Schwarzfahrer (fare-dodger) earlier this year. Well, for true proof that crime doesn’t pay, look at the story of one 24-year old German man who played Schwarzfahrer for a five months, during which he was caught 102 times! You have to pretty much be wearing a sign that says “I don’t have a ticket” for that to happen. The oddest part is that he could afford the tickets, but was just using his naughty ways to fight boredom.
I wonder if he will be more inclined to buy a ticket when he gets out of jail – after 22 months.
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© 2008 Miss-Verständnis. 
Stupid people are found everywhere.
That does depend on the personell situation and motivation of the company that’s running the streetcar or what have you. A friend of mine had been studying in Saarbrücken and during these five years he never bought a single ticket. Calculating that controls were so rare that despite the extra fee of 40 E he paid about 10-20 % of the amount of money that legal transportation would have cost.
I’m experiencing something similar: I ride the train from Trier to Saarbrücken like a dozen times per year, and, really, I get controlled like once or twice during that time. If I didn’t have a seasonal ticket I would have to pay around 450 E for legal transportation, but assuming that I’d be caught twice a year my “fee” would be around 120 E.
Depending on time and place crime DOES pay.
I’ve noticed at the Drupa trade show in Düsseldorf (a huge trade show held every four years) that no one ever checks the tickets. There are just too many people and everyone with a Drupa pass rides the trains free anyway, so they don’t even bother with it. I did get on the wrong train once, but I just did my “I’m a dumb American, I don’t understand” routine and they let me slide. It was a few years back, so it wasn’t too far from the truth at the time.
I read about “Schwarzfahren” all the time. The “official” term is: Beförderungserschleichung
What a beautiful German word. 25 letters, an umlaut, methaphorical use of “schleichen”; gorgeous.
@Bellerophon
I also recommend using the “I’m a dumb foreign man who doesn’t understand what’s going on at all” whenever you go “schwarzfahren.”
Highly recommended, it will work. Not necessarily with Americans only…
At least here in Austria.
Lol…it really does depend what City you’re in bzw. what “Verkehrsbund” you’re stuck with. In Freiburg (South Germany), they only seldomly do controlling on the Straßenbahn. You can basically take the bus and not be controlled for months on end. In NRW however, they seriously stop you every single time you get on the bus and look at your ticket closely to make sure you wrote your name right nor something. O.o In Hamburg (I live there too. Cool town, but the weather sucks), I was here 2 weeks and they didn’t check once. U-bahn, S-bahn, Bus….even though I had a ticket…..Ah well, schicksal halt, ne?^^
Cheers!
…..und der kerl der 102 mal kontrolliert wurde hat echt pech….haha