Artificial intelligence can help tackle fare evasion

Barcelona has begun using artificial intelligence (AI) at train stations to target fare evaders without inconveniencing honest passengers.

The system has been rolled out at select stations of the Catalan government’s Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) train network with Xavier Arrufat, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Awaait Artificial Intelligence, emphasising that fare evasion is one of the biggest challenges in public transport, given “it is how the industry gets paid for transporting people”.

During a session at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Stockholm on AI and IoT, Arrufat explained that FGC, the train operator, had come to him to look for a sol...