Overview
- More than 268,000 passengers were caught without valid tickets on Deutsche Bahn long-distance services in 2024, up from about 264,000 in 2023 and nearly 214,000 in 2022.
- Criminal reports for fare evasion under §265a StGB in DB long-distance cases increased to 18,010 in 2024, compared with 17,125 in 2023 and 12,648 in 2022.
- Only a small share of those stopped later produced a valid ticket, according to the Justice Ministry’s responses to a parliamentary query.
- The federal government reports no comprehensive figures for local and regional transport, while police recorded just over 140,000 nationwide cases of fare evasion in 2024, above 2022 but slightly below 2023.
- Die Linke’s legal affairs spokesman Luke Hoß argues many offenders cannot afford fares and urges ending Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe and scaling back prosecution of minor offenses.