New app tells passengers where to avoid ticket controllers in Berlin

Berliners can use a new app to warn each other about where ticket controllers are active on the public transport network, so passengers riding without a ticket can avoid fines.

Freifahren helps Berliners avoid ticket fines

Two students have launched an app that allows people using Berlin's public transport network to log where ticket controllers are currently active, so passengers riding without a ticket can more easily avoid fines.

Developed by two students at TU Berlin, the app has been in the works for three years, according to computing student and developer Johan Trieloff. Speaking to rbb, Trieloff explained that when his university stopped funding semester tickets, some students began riding without a ticket because they could not afford a monthly subscription. 

The students riding without a ticket then set up messenger groups, which they used to send live updates to each other about where ticket controllers were active on the transport network. Trieloff began developing an app based on the same principle, and enlisted the help of friend David Brandes.

Now, the platform warns users of typical “risk areas” where controllers are often active and sends users notifications about where controllers are currently active. According to Trieloff and Brandes, the app currently has around 40.000 users.

Speaking to taz, Triefloff explained that the motivation to develop that app also came from reading about the number of people sent to prison in Germany for riding without a ticket. 

According to rbb, at the end of March, 120 people were in prison for riding without a ticket multiple times and not paying their fine. The Nazi-era law largely criminalises low-paid workers, unemployed people and people with mental health issues.

Critics of the law also point out that criminalising those caught without tickets incurs high costs for the state, with imprisoning those caught costing 200 euros per person per day.

BVG says Freifahren “lacking in solidarity”

Unsurprisingly, BVG, the local public transport association in Berlin, has not welcomed the arrival of Freifahren. 

"Anyone who actively contributes to making it easier to travel without a valid ticket is, in the BVG's view, supporting behaviour that lacks solidarity,” the transport association said, “behaviour that comes at the expense of our many honest passengers and causes significant financial loss."

According to the BVG, fare dodging costs the association “between 20 and 25 million euros” per year, and is becoming a more common problem. The association told rbb it was looking into “what legal steps may be considered” regarding Freifahren.

Brandes emphasised that the student pair didn’t want to “aggravate” the BVG, but to create a warning system to help people who could otherwise be sent to prison.