Portugal’s public transport companies were delighted when the tax department took over the task of collecting fines from travellers who had been caught without a ticket.
The system changed in January 2014 but the tax office has not yet got around to billing these miscreants, leaving millions of euros of fines uncollected.
The Tax Authority should have started its coercive collection of fines for public transport offences early this year in a measure contained in the 2014 State Budget in a move to minimise fraud in public transport and to cut the number of fines that remain unpaid.
Eight months later there are 50,000 fines for which notices have not yet been sent out by the Tax Authority.
The excuses given range from the inevitable ‘computer problems’ to ‘lack of staff.’
Maybe 'lack of effort' is nearer the truth.
Portugal national railway company issued 16,767 fines in the first half of the year and expected by now to have received the lion’s share of the €2.7 million outstanding.
Lisbon’s public transport company has issued 12,680 fines between January and August and has yet to receive a cent.
Lisbon Metro has 8,161 official fines outstanding since the beginning of the year. In Oporto the number is around 10,000 meaning the total amount uncollected in the capital and Oporto is at least €8.5 million.
Behind the problem is passengers’ use of the system for free, a situation that has increased during the recession, and the number of travellers that remain unchallenged and un-fined.
Lisbon’s transport system suffers a 15% fraud rate but is the tax authority is not bothering to collect fines the transport companies may as well stop issuing them.
