Keolis trials tool to prevent fraud on buses in France
It is being trialled on the Ginko network in Besançon and aims to transform fraudulent passengers into valid customers by changing their behaviour with the help of behavioural science and nudges.
Keolis Group’s subsidiary Keolis Besançon Mobilités (France) is trialling a new technology on two bus lines of the Ginko transport network in Besançon city.
Dubbed the ‘fraudometer’, the aim of the equipment is to transform fraudulent bus passengers into valid customers by changing their behaviour with the assistance of behavioural science and ‘nudges’.
Behavioural sciences
Ginko network is the first network in France to offer this innovation, developed by the teams of Keolis Besançon Mobilités with the support of a Lyon-based firm specialising in behavioural sciences and Keolis’ innovation department.
According to Keolis, the innovation is the result of an investment by Grand Besançon Métropole in a passenger counting system which identifies precisely when passengers get on and off at each stop. The entire bus and tram fleet is equipped, representing more than 125 vehicles.
The equipment can also be used to gather precise statistics on passenger numbers and deploy a variety of innovations, including the fraudometer.
Depending on how many validations there have been, a message is displayed to congratulate, encourage or, failing that, ‘alert’ the passengers on board to their oversight
The fraudometer is based on behavioural science and nudges, a gentle method aimed at encouraging individuals to adopt more virtuous behaviour on a day-to-day basis, without ever trying to force them.
At each stop, when the driver opens the vehicle doors, the fraudometer shows up on the information screens. When passengers board, the number of boardings (provided by the counting system) and the number of validations (ticketing data provided by the validators) are then displayed, highlighting the number of passengers who have failed to validate their ticket.
Keolis reports the fraudometer will alert the teams to those stops on the Ginko network where fraud is most prevalent, both in real-time and after the event. In the first instance, the intervention of controllers can be activated. In the second, the data is analysed and used to develop control schedules for the days and weeks to come.
The control teams, present seven days a week on the Ginko network, carry out 30,000 controls per month. They use a variety of methods to carry out their controls, including plainclothes checks, and tools for more targeted operations and actions.
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