The MTR is probably the most efficient and among the cheapest ways of traveling in Hong Kong. But those impressive descriptions are not enough to make all passengers pay for the wonderful service. This is especially true in Lo Wu station, where some passengers fit enough for high jump competitions leap above station turnstiles to avoid paying the full fare. Lo Wu is located next to the southern mainland city of Shenzhen.
These fare dodgers buy the cheapest single journey tickets to get through the turnstiles. After arriving in Lo Wu, they think it’s practical to jump over the station turnstiles. Maybe because they realize they can’t get out using the wrong (cheapest) tickets they got. But the ulterior motive of avoiding fare payment is already hatched even before that so-called mistake in buying the cheapest tickets was made.
The MTR may have earned billions in profits from millions of passengers it serves on a daily basis, but it couldn’t stand this uncivilized way of utilizing the public transport. It has formed a 29-man team composed of retired law enforcers to tackle these fare dodgers and to deter others from emulating the bad examples.
As a result, the number of fare evasion cases in the first four months of the year has dropped from 8,442 to 1,905 (77 percent). The benefits are obvious: it discourages dodging fares which most people are happy to pay and provide means of livelihood to certain folks who wish to prove that they can still implement by-laws despite their recent retirement.
