Germany’s Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig has come out in favour of decriminalising fare evasion on the country’s public transport system – to ease pressure on Germany’s justice system.
“In my view there are good reasons for decriminalisation”, the Social Democrats (SPD) politician told newspaper NOZ today.
“Do people really belong in prison if they cannot afford a ticket?,” Hubig asked. She added that the prosecution of fare dodgers would bind resources of the justice system that could be better used elsewhere.
The minister’s appeal for leniency did not sit well with public transport providers.
The Association of German Transport Providers (VDV) said: “Fare evasion causes revenue losses for public transport providers in the hundreds of millions of euros annually. It deprives the sector of important means to pay for salaries, vehicles, infrastructure, and security.”
The association added that decriminalisation would send “a totally wrong signal” and would favour “behaviour that shows a lack of solidarity with honest passengers”.
The VDV added that decriminalisation would also endanger public transport employees, as it would make it more difficult to muster support from the police against aggressive fare dodgers.
Recently, Germany has had to deal with several highly publicised violent attacks against public transport employees.
In February 2026, a fare dodger allegedly beat a train conductor to death on a German regional train near Kaiserslautern in Rhineland. And yesterday, a supposedly 13-year-old Iraqi youth battered a bus driver in Leipzig so violently that the 62-year-old man had to undergo emergency surgery and fell into a coma.
Support for Hubig came from the Association of German Lawyers (DAV). Spokesperson Swen Walentowski said trials of fare dodgers cost German taxpayers around €200 million per year.
Taking a bus or a train without a valid ticket is a crime in Germany pursuant to Art. 265a of the German Criminal Code and is punishable by a monetary fine or imprisonment for up to one year.
