mike57
Established Member
I assume there will be records of penalty fares so maybe start at £25, and then ramp up to say £50. £100, £200 for multiple instances in a time period (12 months maybe). This means that a genuine mistake is not heavily penalised, but a persistent offender will quickly find it doesn't pay. This should only apply in the case of ticket 'irregularities', ticketless travel should attract top tier straight away.As only a small % of fare evaders are caught, in my case there is a very strong possibility I would get away with it a few times (ie be in pocket) and on the time i was caught I would then and only then have to pay the fare I should have paid in the first place.
I agree, the current system is massively over complicated. There should be just 3 fares, Anytime, Off Peak and Advance, and do away with TOC specific tickets, if you wish to encourage people to use a specific route or service use the advance fare discount v off peak to encourage. Also do away with issue of 'ticket acceptance' in the event of disruption, if you are travelling on an advance ticket you can use the next available service irresective of TOC. Now the majority of TOCs are directly or indirectly funded by the DfT there is no justification for it.One of the problems is the complexity of the fare system.
These changes would result in a system where people are less likely to get caught out by a genuine mistake and the enforcemnent could be concentrated on fare evaders.