NJ Transit Cracks Down On Phony Tickets [AUDIO]

New Jersey Transit is cracking down on ticket fraud.

Agency officials have unveiled a series of new measures being undertaken to avert the usage of counterfeit tickets aboard NJ Transit trains, buses and light rail vehicles.

Conductors and drivers will be checking tickets to look for embedded security holograms.

Kevin O'Connor, the NJ Transit Rail General Manager says train crews have been given special ultra violet flashlights - that can see the security holograms.

He says in the past conductors have walked through and they do a visual ticket inspection.

"It's pretty much the same process, they just walk through - shine the light on it, and the process takes just as long as the visual observation did, but it's easier for them to identify whether or not there's a problem with that ticket. This inspection is going to be performed every single day - and moving forward we will change that security feature in the monthly stock, so it is not the same monthly security feature - so it will be changing on a regular basis."

NJ Transit Executive Director Jim Weinstein says, "The efforts underway to stop ticket fraud are squarely aimed at protecting the interests of transit customers, and New Jersey taxpayers alike…We estimate that a counterfeit rate of just one percent has a monthly cost in excess of 250 thousand dollars. This is money that could be invested by New Jersey Transit to help avoid future fare increases…New Jersey Transit police have been working hard to investigate and root out this practice, through numerous ongoing investigations."

He says, "We're confident this new approach to ticket inspection - together with our police department's ongoing investigations will serve to crack down on those who would defraud our fare-paying customers…The inspection is painless and it's quick, and the only people it's going to inconvenience are people who are using counterfeit tickets."

New Jersey Police Chief Chris Trucillo says, "Every time you put a barrier up people are going to look to be creative and try and go around that barrier, so we're going to have to be on our toes, and continue to look, and be proactive in trying to circumvent this…There is no evidence that one specific crime ring was behind this…Those caught with counterfeit tickets will be charged with forgery - and forgery is a 4th degree crime in the state of New Jersey - it's up punishable up to 18 months in jail or a fine up to 10 thousand dollars…If someone offers you a deal on rail or bus ticket that sounds like it's too good to be true - it's probably too good to be true."