FARE cheats are putting bus captains between a rock and a hard place.

When they do attempt to confiscate invalid ez-link cards that are used to pay fares, bus captains occasionally face abuse and violence. But if they do not seize any invalid cards, they will not gain merit points for their work appraisal.

The New Paper understands that three merit points can be given for each card confiscated, but there is no fixed system.

The card confiscation system is termed 'Revenue Assurance' and it is to help stem the loss of $9 million a year to fare cheats.

Earlier this month, 34 bus captains from various interchanges spoke to The New Paper individually.

As their contracts forbid them from speaking to the media, their real names have been withheld.

Fare evasion gives bus captains a big headache. Many of the bus captains we spoke to carry with them white ez-link card retention envelopes all the time in their front pockets.

It is not easy to act as a bus cop, catching freeloaders and seizing their cards. Even so, bus captains interviewed target to retain at least three cards each this year.

This includes:

Cards that have been reported lost, stolen or have expired and are no longer valid.

And cards misused by those who are not entitled to concessionary travel.

Not confiscating enough cards can jeopardise a good performance appraisal. This is the perception of bus captains.

One bus captain claimed that he confiscated more than 30 ez-link cards last year.

He received three merit points for each card collected, and chalked up more than 100 merit points.

That bumped up his performance rating. On a scale of 1 to 4, he was banded '2'.

SBS Transit corporate communications vice-president Tammy Tan said in an e-mail reply to The New Paper:

'Bus captains who are more vigilant on the job and are able to uncover more fare evasion cases are obviously rewarded more than those who are less vigilant.'

SBS Transit runs the bulk of public bus services here.

Ms Tan said that bus captains put in a lot of effort to perform such revenue checks. 'This is why we award merit points to those who perform well.'

'Fare evasion is, unfortunately, a serious problem in Singapore,' Ms Tan added. 'TransitLink (ez-link's partner) had estimated that there are 42,000 cases of fare evasion on public buses every day.'

If more try to escape paying fares, honest commuters will not only wind up subsidising the rides of cheats, but will also have to endure the squeeze in crowded buses.

SBS Transit has had cases where adult passengers misuse children/student concession cards.

CAUGHT

Last year, an average of about 600 adults were caught using children's concession cards every month.

Full-fare-paying passengers cross-subsidise concession card holders, Ms Tan said.

'If these instances are left unaddressed, it may lead to higher fares being paid consequently by full-fare-paying passengers.'

In the first three months of this year, bus captains and traffic inspectors retained close to 8,800 ez-link cards, SBS Transit said.

These include cases where expired concession cards are used and situations where adults are caught using student concession cards.

Ms Tan said: 'Fare evasion is not route-specific and is an industry-wide problem.'

In tackling the abuse of ez-link cards, bus operators also have to handle the abuse towards their bus drivers.

In the first five months of 2007, SBS Transit received 37 reports of quarrels, fights or assaults on its buses. Of these, 15 involved passengers assaulting bus captains.

In May last year, The New Paper reported that one student punched a bus captain in the face after he confiscated his girlfriend's ez-link card.

A month later, SBS launched the Stop Bus Captain Assaults campaign.

In the face of such incidents, bus captains are not overzealous in confiscating the cards of cheats.

But those who do not seize any cards are uneasy about not getting merit points.

John, a bus captain of 14 years, said he shared his seized card 'collection' with close colleagues.

He claimed: 'I confiscated four cards, so I gave one to my colleague who didn't have any.'

Andrew is one driver who does not confiscate any ez-link cards and feels rewarded in other ways.

He said: 'I felt proud when eight commuters gave me generous $20 hongbao and oranges during Chinese New Year. That is the greatest reward a bus captain can get.'

Other bus captains think merit points simply should not be pegged to the confiscation of ez-link cards.

'Performance should not be based on this,' one driver said.

UNION'S VIEW

MP Seng Han Thong, member of parliament for Yio Chu Kang and executive secretary of the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), told The New Paper last week that he had made recommendations to SBS Transit in October last year to get rid of the seized-cards link to merit points.

He added that the issue surfaced again two weeks ago, during his visit to the Clementi and Redhill interchanges.

But the real issue is not how the system can be improved.

It is about fare evasion and its cost to society.

SBS Transit spokesperson Tammy Tan said the company has rolled out educational programmes to try to deter fare evaders, with little success.

'It is for this reason that Parliament has passed a bill for penalty fees to be imposed on fare evaders,' she said.

Though passed, the provisions of the Public Transport Council (Amendment) Act 2005 has not yet been implemented.

Given the seriousness of the problem, is it time to impose heavy penalties on bus cheats?

This story was first published in The New Paper on 21 April 2008.