A city council committee is mulling over the possibility of raising the penalties for people who try to get a free ride on the CTrain.
The fine for not buying a ticket is $150, but the Transportation Committee is looking to raise that to $250.
If approved, it would be the first time that fines have been increased in the past 20 years.
In May, Calgary Transit began testing an electronic fare system for buses and trains, which allows passengers to use smart cards instead of cash or tickets.
Calgary Transit says the test was successful, but did uncover a few issues that will need to be ironed out before the new system is rolled out.
Last year, Calgary Transit upgraded their systems before the Calgary Stampede so people could use terminals to buy tickets with credit and debit cards.
The same terminals would also dispense change if needed.
Doug Morgan said the changes were to make it easier for customers to pay if they didn’t have exact change.
Calgary Transit says that fare evasion costs the City of Calgary about $4.5M in lost revenue every year.
