GO Transit tickets that go to a collection agency are about to get $20 bigger.

Metrolinx is adding the extra fee as a way to make up the cost of going after the 29 per cent of delinquent fines that end up in collections. Most tickets written up by GO officers are for fare evasion ($100) and illegal parking (usually $25).

Of the 28,714 fines GO issued since July 2010, 8,455 have been sent to a collection agency hired in 2012.

That adds another layer of cost to chasing down the offenders.

So on Friday, the Metrolinx board approved tacking on an extra $20 to tickets that have been sent to the collection agency.

The idea is to “allow some of the costs of collection to be passed on to the debtor whose account is outstanding, rather than being taken from the outstanding debt,” according to a report to the board.

“It is a cost factor for us to bring in a collection agency to seek out those funds,” said CEO Bruce McCuaig.

Seventeen per cent of the ticket value — $4.25 to $17 — goes to cover the collection agency’s costs, said Metrolinx. The longer the ticket is in collections, the more the agency charges.

Since the collections process was launched, Metrolinx, which operates GO, has paid out about $8,115.00 in commissions.

GO collected about $825,000 in fines during the 2012-2013 fiscal year. From April 2013 to December 2013, it collected about $530,000.

Unpaid fines also add up to extra costs in staff time and reminder notices.

“GO issues several letters to the individual prior to collections being initiated,” said spokesperson Vanessa Thomas.

McCuaig said there’s a range of reasons people don’t pay their fines.

“Some of it may be (the difficulty of) locating people who have received the penalty,” he said. It could also be that they have appealed to the transit agency’s alternative dispute process, which was introduced in 2009.

The process allows riders to make their case for a fine reduction with a GO screening officer. If there’s no resolution, the dispute can go on to one of GO’s hearing officers — lawyers and judges who are paid to rule on the matter.

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Of the 28,714 tickets issued, 15,590 cases were dealt with by screening officers. Of those, only 332, or 2 per cent, went to a full hearing.

“The fines that we are collecting are not a way to subsidize the service. The fines we collect are to administer the system and try to have a real penalty that deters people from parking in the wrong place or (not paying) their fares,” McCuaig said.

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