Fare dodging

[40907]

Recently travelling on an afternoon Birmingham to Hereford service. At Worcester Foregate St a number of youths, students I think, boarded the train. None had tickets. The onboard ticket inspector/issuer worked his way through them as best he could on a crowded train ( a number incidentally tendering high-value notes which slowed things down).
One lad was quite aggressive to the ticket chap: "cant you see I'm on the phone", and tried to push his way down the train past the LM employee, who incidentally kept his calm all the time. Ticket chap requested a fare, youth refused, and as train stopped at Malvern Link, said youth hared off down the platform pursued by ticket man. Youth ran off laughing.

Two suggestions for London Midland: At peak times ensure barrier/ticket control at Worcester so that passengers cannot access the platform without a ticket. Also, invite British Transport Police to be present at fare evasion hotspots. That should see a quick change of attitude.
Anyone else seen this sort of behaviour?

 

[Master29]

I think most have. People learn where the easiest routes are and after a number of times buying a ticket realize no one ever views it and there is no ticket barrier at the intended station. Aggressiveness is out of order though.

 

[crehld]

I've also witnessed such aggressive behaviour, from people of all ages and walks of life. This is not an issue confined to youths.

 

[the sniper]

Par for the course. Hopefully one day BTP will realise that fare evasion is their problem too and tacking it would help solve a lot of wider issues. I'm all for more barriers though.

 

[ainsworth74]

I've also witnessed such aggressive behaviour, from people of all ages and walks of life. This is not an issue confined to youths.

Indeed I saw the behaviour from youths and then adults (probably 30s/40s) all on the same service last week!

 

[broadgage]

Yes, regrettably commonplace.
This is where penalty fares have a part to play. If someone gets away without paying the fare on 9 out of 10 trips, but on 1 out of 10 they have to pay a penalty of more than 10 times the fare evaded, then nothing is gained and they might as well buy a ticket regularly.

If on the other hand they usually pay nothing, but on 1 trip out of 10 they have to pay the regular fare, then that is a clear incentive to pay only if challenged.

 

[bb21]

Unfortunately I doubt BTP presence would change the mind of these thugs.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, regrettably commonplace.
This is where penalty fares have a part to play

If someone is refusing to pay the appropriate or full fare, and is prepared to run off (as described in the original post) it is difficult to see how an inspector can get them to agree to pay an even higher Penalty Fare!

. If someone gets away without paying the fare on 9 out of 10 trips, but on 1 out of 10 they have to pay a penalty of more than 10 times the fare evaded, then nothing is gained and they might as well buy a ticket regularly.

A far more sensible approach is to make regular checks. Scotrail is perhaps the best at this, in my experience. Incidentally, there are no Penalty Fares there.

 

[Tubeboy]

You could gate stations, but these types jump them or double through behind a fare paying punter.

 

[theblackwatch]

Indeed I saw the behaviour from youths and then adults (probably 30s/40s) all on the same service last week!

An aggressive youth becomes and aggressive middle aged person and an aggressive elderly person! I was once on a train where the BTP were called to deal with a chap in his 70s who had kicked off...

 

[IanXC]

A far more sensible approach is to make regular checks. Scotrail is perhaps the best at this, in my experience. Incidentally, there are no Penalty Fares there.

I've spent quite some time travelling with ScotRail this year, and I must say I think you're on to something. Previously home was a part of the Northern empire where revenue checks are generally seen as being pretty thorough (East Yorkshire), however ScotRail, particularly it must be said, in areas subject to the Strathclyde Manning Agreement win hands down.

Ticket Examiners are often to be seen observing the flow of passengers on and off the train so as to identify where their efforts should be focused, I've seen them regularly taking action against passengers who could be evading their fares, and in hundreds of journeys this year I'm struggling to think of a case of a passenger who did not have a ticket when they should have, or did not immediately comply with the TE/Guard's request to purchase one.

On the flip side, the very extremities of the lines covered by the Strathclyde agreement can be problematic, diagrams on some lines appear to result in TEs changing from one service to another several stops before the end of the line. Thus creating the opportunity for a 'free ride' into the settlement at the end of the line.