Brno: Passengers Can Get Points for Being Checked for Tickets

Passengers traveling by public transportation in Brno can now make a positive experience from ticket inspection.

In April, the transport sector released a new program for users of prepaid online tickets. For every successful ticket inspection, people gain points, which they can then make use of while paying a fine or in a competition for free yearly passes.

The new system should reward loyal customers and change the view of passengers who only perceive ticket inspection as negative. “We want to motivate the travelers to buy electronic tickets, which is more comfortable for most users”, the spokesperson for the transport sector, Hana Tomaštíková, introduces.

Nearly fifty-five thousand passengers are now buying their tickets online. However, although people need to wait in line for the classic paper tickets, it’s still the more favorable one with more than sixty-eight thousand people still using it.

If the chance of winning attracts people to buy tickets electronically, is still not a certain solution, according to the economist Lukáš Kovanda. “It might have some influence, but I wouldn’t overestimate it. Most of the time we expect more from these measures than is realistic”, he explains.

Magda Bařinková travels around Brno using the electronic tickets. “I appreciate the effort rewarding honest travelers, but I think this method is a little unfair. Someone might not get checked by the ticket inspector in an entire year while someone else might get checked three times a month. The whole system is based on coincidences, which I don’t find celebratory”, she says.

The points are added to the users internet account BrnoID. The maximum amount of points that can be added to the bank account is fifty points, that can then be used to in a potential fifty crown fine payment in the situation that the passenger has a non-functioning or non-activated card. Additionally, the points are automatically considered in the competition for the free yearly passes. Every six months the transport sector draws out three winners, the first one is planned for October.

Author: V.B