VRE issues 130 tickets for fare evasion in February

The number of fare-evaders caught on the Virginia Railway Express spiked in February even as the train service hopes to get the state to approve tougher penalties on repeat offenders.

VRE issued 130 citations in February to those who didn’t have a proper ticket — one of the highest amounts the train system has seen in recent history and a 40 percent increase from February 2012, a new report from the agency said.