Korea Railroad to Eradicate Fare Evasion... Crackdown Using Big Data Analysis

(Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) will intensively crack down on fare evasion by analyzing ticket sales data starting from the 12th.

KORAIL announced on the 11th that it has established a big data-based fare evasion prevention system capable of real-time monitoring inside trains.

This crackdown will focus on frequently detected fare evasion cases such as abuse of the "ticket refund service after train departure" and unauthorized use of N cards.

Suspicious cases are categorized and monitored by type, including unusual payment histories that differ from typical purchasing patterns and ticket cancellation or refund records.

Misuse of discount certificates under another person's name and forgery or alteration of commuter passes will also be targeted.

Purchasing a large number of tickets with a credit card and then repeatedly refunding them before penalty fees occur each month, thereby infringing on the seat usage rights of genuine customers, is also subject to crackdown.

When suspicious cases are detected by the fare evasion prevention system, the relevant information necessary for enforcement is notified to the train crew. Based on this, the crew can individually verify suspected fare evasion cases inside the train.

Fare evaders will be charged the fare for the traveled section and an additional fare up to 30 times the base fare according to the Railroad Business Act.

KORAIL expects that using big data for enforcement will increase the likelihood of detection compared to previous methods, thereby having a significant preventive effect on fare evasion.

Hong Seungpyo, head of KORAIL's Customer Marketing Division, said, "Fare evasion is increasing and becoming more sophisticated, but enforcement has relied on employees' experience. We will strive to eradicate fare evasion through pinpoint enforcement using the big data system so that a proper railway usage culture can be established."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.