Passengers stepping over the gantries, others entering the tramway without a ticket… The scene in Marseille seems usual for anyone who regularly uses the RTM public transport network. A feeling that a report from the regional chamber of accounts confirms, and supports a painful reality: the existence of “endemic fraud” in the buses, trams and metro of the second city of France. In this document, presented this Thursday during the metropolitan council, the magistrates of the chamber deplore “a historic average fraud rate […] very high and increasing”, exceeding 23%. An average that “hides significant disparities”, according to the report. “The bus is thus defrauded at almost 40% and the fraud rate in certain areas exceeds 60%”, regrets the regional chamber of accounts.
“Comparisons with other urban transport networks are difficult to establish insofar as the data is not systematically published and, when it is, does not always cover an identical perimeter, recognizes the regional chamber of accounts. However, several fraud rates could be compared to the Marseille rates. In 2018, while the overall fraud rate was 27.5% for the RTM, it was 10.6% on the Bordeaux metropolitan transport network, i.e. almost three times lower. If we only consider the fraud rate for buses, the differences are even greater. »
The number of controls has decreased
However, in this same report, the regional chamber of accounts is surprised by the certain laxity of the RTM to fight against this massive fraud. “Faced with this situation, the management has paradoxically greatly reduced the number of passenger ticket checks, note the magistrates. Overall, the number of checks per officer is low. If the so-called dissuasive controls have been increased according to the management, they are purely declarative and, it is clear, not very effective with regard to the rate of fraud. No system has been implemented over time in the areas most affected by fraud and anti-fraud equipment (automatic metro gates, for example) is still insufficient. »
And when fines are issued, only a handful are actually paid by offenders. “Between 2016 and 2019 (last year before the Covid health crisis), the annual amount of the minutes was between 4 and 8 million euros, of which only 0.2 to 0.3 million euros were recovered, i.e. a recovery rate of less than 5%”, tackles the report. According to the regional chamber of accounts, it is “about ten times lower than those observed in other networks”. Fines are also drawn up with little care. The regional chamber of accounts notes, pell-mell “erroneous indications given by the offenders but also numerous errors in dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers during the establishment of the report. »
Nearly 100 million euros lost in four years
And to note: “until 2020, the minutes were drawn up on paper on board the vehicle and then re-entered into the computer tool by a team of six people. To the initial errors could therefore be added re-entry errors. Undelivered letters are very numerous, representing a rate of 61% against 36% for the entire accounting item. »
A laxity which has a colossal cost, in a network which remains perfectible, with only two metro lines for the whole of the second city of France, and districts deprived of regular public transport, in particular in the north of the city. “As 1% of hard fraud corresponds to a loss of approximately 1 million euros in revenue, 23.5 million euros were lost in 2020 alone, i.e. the cost of purchasing 80 buses or of six tramway trains, calculate the magistrates. Over the last four years for which a fraud investigation has been carried out, the RTM has lost approximately 90 million euros due to fraud, i.e. the equivalent of more than 300 buses, i.e. more than a third of its fleet. . »