KCRC raises fines for ticket cheats

The fixed penalty for passengers travelling without a valid ticket on East Rail is to rise from $160 to $500. The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) said the present fine - five times the maximum fare - had failed to deter dodgers.

KCRC figures showed that 42,500 East Rail passengers were fined for not having valid tickets last year, and about 10,000 in the first four months of this year. The MTR raised its penalty from $300 to $500 in May last year. It fined 20,000 passengers over the past year. The penalty increase saw offences fall from 3,794 in May last year to 1,484 in September.