Riding public transport without a valid ticket should no longer be treated as a criminal offense, according to Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig. The SPD politician's push to decriminalize fare evasion received mixed responses on Tuesday.
Hubig justified her call for an end to criminal prosecution of fare evasion by citing the overburdened court system and prisons. "The proceedings tie up many resources in the justice system that could be put to better use elsewhere," the minister told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Tuesday. Hubig also questioned the purpose of the current practice of imposing substitute custodial sentences on people who cannot pay fines for fare evasion.
Riding without a ticket is classified as fraudulent obtaining of services and is therefore a criminal offense under Section 265a of the Criminal Code. According to police crime statistics, there were more than 93,000 cases in 2024 in which police took action for "fare evasion." According to the Federal Statistical Office, 21,881 people were sentenced to fines in 2024 for fraudulent obtaining of services. However, fare evaders are not separately identified in these statistics.
Union parliamentary deputy chairman Günter Krings (CDU) told the Rheinische Post (Wednesday edition) that an end to criminal prosecution "will not happen with the Union." Riding without a ticket is "not a prank, but a fraud offense that harms the community."
Only because fare evasion is a criminal offense are ticket inspectors allowed to detain a suspicious person until police arrive on the scene, Krings emphasized. "Since inspections would no longer make sense without criminal law, there would of course be many more passengers without tickets. To compensate for this, fares for everyone else would have to rise significantly."
The Police Union (GdP) also rejected Hubig's plans. Fraudulent obtaining of services must remain a criminal offense, "otherwise we open the door to such behavior," said Andreas Roßkopf, GdP chairman for the Federal Police, to the Rheinische Post.
According to the German Train Drivers' Union (GDL), downgrading fraudulent obtaining of services to a regulatory offense would further exacerbate the security situation in railway operations. When rules "lose their binding nature, it is not acceptance that increases, but the willingness to disregard them."
Rejection also came from the Railway and Transport Union (EVG). "Fare evasion is not a trivial offense," said Ralf Damde, chairman of the works council of DB Regio, to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Particularly after the brutal attack resulting in death by a fare evader on a train conductor in early February, decriminalization would send completely the wrong signal.
The Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) stated that fare evasion causes billions in damages every year. "These losses affect not only the transport companies, but ultimately also the honest passengers who pay for their tickets."
The legal policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Carmen Wegge, defended Hubig's plans. The criminalization of fare evasion affects "disproportionately people in poverty" and ties up police, prosecutors and courts "with thousands of proceedings," Wegge told the AFP news agency. The increased transport fee for caught fare evaders is sufficient as a consequence.
The Greens' representative on the Bundestag Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, Lena Gumnior, expressed similar views. She referred to a draft law from her own party, according to which riding without a ticket should be removed from the Criminal Code. Transport companies already impose high fines as a deterrent, Gumnior told AFP.
From the Left Party's perspective, decriminalization of fare evasion is also overdue. Deputy parliamentary group leader Clara Bünger called it a "scandal" in the Rheinische Post "that in this country poor people are still primarily prosecuted under criminal law because they cannot afford a ticket."
The German Association of Judges (DRB) advocated "restricting the criminal offense of fare evasion to its core punishable conduct." DRB Federal Managing Director Sven Rebehn stated that fare evasion should "only be punishable in cases where those affected overcome technical access barriers or circumvent access controls."
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