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'''===TGV''' are === Are the high speed long distance trains. TGV drives sometimes over 300km/h (I think it's 220km/h actually) which makes it to be an extremely fast mean of transport. You can be lucky and make even few hours journey without control but usually if you go far they will control. On a longer ride they might control second time. They don't do very often the kind of control when they'd ask for new passengers as in other countries. So usually they either control everyone or they don't control.
'''===Getting caught'''===
''' ===Here is the old article with more detail experiences and tips:''' ===
→France
'''TER''' can be quite long trains with many carriages but it can also be very small with just 2 carriages or so. On TER you can often be lucky and they don't control at all. Other times when they control they usually control only once or twice during the journey so you can keep your eyes open and try to avoid the control. Usually they don't check in the begining of journey but at some later point which makes it bit harder to predict. Tickets are not being checked in advance so you can just enter TER with no problem.
To avoid the control one can do all the typical tricks as hiding on a toilet or dancing around the conductor. It is not too dificult to cross whole France from one end to the other in one day without getting caught.
The problem with TGV is that in some stations they control tickets before boarding the train. If they do so there is usually few conductors standing at the gates so you can't really sneak in. In some stations(usually in smaller towns) they don't have the gates so you can just get in the train without any issue. To get out is no problem as the gates are always open for those who are exiting. In the end of this article there is a list of stations that are known to have or not have gates...
If you get caught they will ask you either to pay or to show your ID so they can write you a fine. IF you don't provide ID they might just ask you to get out or call the cops.
IF you give ID they will issue a fine which functions as a valid ticket so you can continue your journey and if they control you again you just show the fine.
So to summarize: You can have a great time just getting fines and not giving a shit but there is a little chance that they will chase debt collectors after you even in other country. If you don't have property and don't plan to ever have any than it shall be no problem.
Ticket checks are only occasionally performed on TER trains, and even the conductors on TGV trains do not always check tickets. When they do, it may only happen later in the journey, unlike in most countries where all tickets all checked at the beginning of the route.
For non-French citizens/residents fines virtually don't exist. Feel free to give your passport and a fake (or real) address. You can have as many fines as you want. They disappear from their system within two months. Whatever it says on the back of the fine (about fines adding up etc.) might or might not be true, but it ONLY applies to French citizens/residents. Sometimes ticket inspectors bluff (a lot) that they will call the police, while trying to get you to pay on spot. You have nothing to worry about. As long as you keep calm and polite they have no legal reason to call the cops. They just hate writing fines because it is extra work for them and they get to write a lot of fines every day. So if you are nice and have a good story, they won't pressure you or try to kick you off, as they sometimes do.
Sometimes ticket inspectors bluff (a lot) that they will call the police, while trying to get you to pay on spot. You have nothing to worry about. As long as you keep calm and polite they have no legal reason to call the cops. (a reform made that they can handle you to police, but that happens rarely ever). They just hate writing fines because it is extra work for them and they get to write a lot of fines every day. So if you are nice and have a good story, they won't pressure you or try to kick you off, as they sometimes do. If you don't have an ID the cops will (not always) be called and, as the law is in France, you have to prove your identity, which means just giving your name, address etc. Unfortunately it is up to the cops' opinion whether you are telling the truth or not and they may arrest you. North of Paris you are more likely to get arrested than to the South.
''Tip: Before getting checked it is best to locate yourself in-between carriages, where there are a few seats, a table and luggage compartment. Usually nobody stays there. When the inspector comes the atmosphere is more informal as they don't have to keep up an image of 'master-of-the-train' in front of other passengers and it goes more smoothly. After you get your fine (which is a valid ticket) feel free to sit wherever you like in the train.''
TGV trains are best because they are the fastest and with the least stops, so in the unlikely event of you getting kicked off, you will still get pretty far. TER trains are slower and with more stops.
It is quite possible to speak with the driver and the controller before the train start and tell them you want a ride for free. You can tell them otherwise, that you want to get a ticket from there, it'll be less than a fine, but more than a regular ticket (a little surplus is added to the regular price, you may tell them you go less far than you do). Some of them are kind enough to let you in. [[User:Bikepunk|Bikepunk]] got better luck with TER than TGV with this technique so far.
[[User:Mipplor|Mipplor]] hitchhiked a train from Luxembourg to Nancy, Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Nice, and Perpignan in October 2009. Actually 1/3 of his time was spent in the toilet to read newspapers. He was a lucky dog that no single inspector came to trouble him.
