Overview
- The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund ran a day-long Prüfmarathon on September 24, 2026 that deployed about 300 inspectors to check roughly 26,000 passengers across Hamburg and parts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.
- Inspectors reported about 900 people without valid tickets, a rate of roughly 3.5 percent of those checked.
- Ten transport companies took part, including Hochbahn, S-Bahn Hamburg, Metronom, DB Regio and several regional operators that jointly ran checks on buses, trains and at stops.
- HVV framed the exercise as an annual deterrent and awareness measure and cited an estimated loss of about €16 million from fare evasion in the first half of 2026; no new policy or fare changes were announced after the operation.
- The exercise matches the size and results of last year’s September operation and signals continued emphasis on visible enforcement and public messaging about the cost of fare evasion.