There is no longer a prison sentence for repeated fare evasion in Cologne. The federal government is also planning regulations to decriminalize driving without a ticket. Prison sentences currently mainly affect poor people.
Going to jail because someone used public transport without a ticket? This may sound surprising to most people, but it affects hundreds of people every year. This is now over in Cologne. In December, the city council decided to no longer file criminal charges if fare evaders were caught. Now it’s becoming reality.
In the future, a fine of 60 euros will still be due, but no more. “The previous practice was that a report was filed against a person who was noticed three times within a year or four times within two years. However, the last incident must not have been more than three months ago. This is no longer necessary,” said Matthias Pesch, head of corporate communications at the Cologne transport company (KVB).
However, there is still the possibility of claiming the increased transport fee of 60 euros through civil law. “We will continue to make use of this option,” said the KVB spokesman.
Especially poor people Jail sentences affected
The prison sentence mainly affected people who were sentenced to a fine for driving without a ticket but were unable to pay it. In practice, these were mainly poor, homeless or addicted people.
The push in the Cologne city council to change the rule came from the FDP in December last year. By not filing criminal charges, the burden on the judiciary would be relieved, argued FDP council politician Volker Görzel at the time. In Cologne you only get fines for parking illegally, but driving without a ticket can land you in jail. That’s not fair.
The left-wing politician Güldane Tokyürek emphasized that in most cases reporting to the public prosecutor’s office “does not establish solvency.” This means of pressure does not work on people who simply cannot pay KVB tickets.
Association speaks of Millions in damage
The demand to decriminalize driving without a ticket has been around for a long time. Other cities such as Düsseldorf have already implemented them.
The Association of German Transport Companies is skeptical about this. Driving without a ticket harms everyone and should not be trivialized. It will cost the transport companies dearly.
Despite regular checks, the association expects annual damage of up to 300 million euros. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, it is estimated that over 700 people ended up in prison in 2021 for driving without a ticket.
At the Cologne transport company, the rate of those who were checked without a valid ticket was around 2.7 percent in 2022. That was a total of more than 37,800 passengers. According to the KVB, reports were filed against almost 1,800 of them. There were 393 convictions.
“We fear that the waiver will have a negative signaling effect, which could increase the proportion of passengers without a valid ticket. A consequence would be higher loss of income in public transport, which in turn could lead to increased ticket prices. However, to what extent the decision will actually impact financially and in everyday practice KVB’s impact remains to be seen,” said KVB spokesman Pesch.
The federal government is also planning changes
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann also wants to decriminalize driving without a ticket and base the penalties on illegal parking. “We no longer want to criminalize the so-called evasion of transport, or to put it more popularly: driving without a ticket, but rather make it an administrative offense,” the FDP politician told the “Zeit”.
It is not okay to use a service “that all decent people pay for”. However, the sanction process should be standardized and processing should become less personnel-intensive. Decriminalizing driving without a ticket is part of the planned reform of the criminal code. A concrete draft is currently in the works.
According to a survey by infratest dimap, more than two thirds of Germans are in favor of decriminalizing driving without a ticket. The Left and the Greens have been pushing for this for several years.