The penalty for fare evasion in the Paris metro is currently 50 euros
As the weekly Le Parisien reports, 'hare' unions are especially popular among young people. Municipal transport authorities are not yet paying close attention to the illegal 'fine insurance' – city services regard it as a 'side effect,' noting that if the phenomenon develops further, the organizers of such unions could be held administratively liable for incitement to fraud.
For committed 'hares,' their unions are not just a financial guarantee: in resisting rising transport fares, Parisian fare evaders see a manifestation of political struggle. 'We believe that urban public transport should be free,' one active participant in 'hare insurance' – a woman in her 30s who did not give her name – told the newspaper. 'The metro and buses should be financed by the state, just like medical care and school education,' believes a young man named Christophe, who has been contributing his small fee to a common kitty of one fare evader union for several years.
The penetration of information about semi-underground 'hare' unions into the central French press is unlikely to launch a serious discussion about free public transport. After all, fare evasion and the cost of catching 'hares' cause quite serious damage to municipal transport enterprises – Parisian transport operators lose up to 80 million euros a year on unpaid tickets alone.
Pyotr LEVSKY.
Russkaya Germaniya