This is a first in France. A "fraudometer" (this is its official name) has just been set up on two urban bus lines in Besançon (Doubs). The goal of the operation is equally assumed: to fight against fraud in public transport by relying on behavioral science.

It is Keolis, the delegate in charge of transport in Besançon, which has just set up this new counting system. It is based on real-time measurement of the non-validation rate in each bus. These are cells recently set up which make it possible to count each entry and exit of the bus, combined with the validation data.

“It’s a simple subtraction, we explain to the transport company Ginko. We have the number of passengers on the bus and we subtract the number of validations. What remains are fraudsters. »

Red or green silhouettes

Beyond this simple counting, the transport company wants to develop the concept of “nudge” based on the subtle science of behavior. A bit like road radars, at the entrance to towns, presenting a smiling or displeased face, depending on the speed, as motorists pass, boards installed inside the buses will release messages in the direction of the passengers present. .

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Three types of messages are provided: "Congratulations, you are great" when the number of fraudsters is very low, "Play the game" with peaceful warnings when the fraud rate increases, and, finally, an alert when the fraudsters turn out to be numerous. Red or green silhouettes, visible on the board, symbolize the number of "good" or "bad" passengers listed on the bus.

Ginko already knows what to do with this data, first of all: “In sectors with too high a rate of fraudsters, we can dispatch controllers. »

The "fraudometer", on trial for a few weeks, could be set up on all lines in Besançon, then other cities in France.