Transport for London has been accused of ‘sheer incompetence’ as fare increases have been ‘wiped out’ by persistent fare dodging. The network raised fares across bus and tube journeys in March to raise an estimated £168 million to maintain and improve services.
Cost of fare evasion
But the Centre for Government Reform said that fare evasion across the Underground and the Elizabeth line is costing £165 million a year, almost matching the savings. Ameer Kotecha, the chief executive of the Centre for Government Reform, said: ‘Londoners were told the March fare rise was necessary to improve the network. What they weren’t told is that fare evasion is costing TfL almost exactly the same amount the rise was expected to generate across the entire network.’
‘Before asking Londoners to dig deeper into their pockets, TfL needs to get serious about enforcement. This is not a funding problem, but sheer incompetence.’ He added: ‘Almost everyone using the Tube will see people pushing through the barriers day in day out. TfL should get tough on fare dodging and stop asking hard-working Londoners to subsidise the lifestyles of criminals.’
TfL response
In March, a suite of measures was unveiled to stop chronic freeloaders who cost the taxpayer £350 million every year across the UK. Under the new plans, railcard users must complete a ‘simple validation check’ to prove they are entitled to discounted travel. They will have to enter their railcard number online or scan it when buying tickets at a station. A government source said the system would eventually form part of a single Great British Railways app.
TfL said: ‘By focusing our enforcement teams on locations with a high prevalence of people pushing through gates and using the latest technology to target the most prolific fare evaders across the network, the pan-TfL fare evasion rate has dropped to 3.5%, down from 3.9% in 2022/23. This builds on the work of our team of more than 500 uniformed officers already deployed across the network to deal with fare evasion and other anti-social behaviour, keeping staff and customers safe.’
‘By increasing enforcement activity to tackle fare evasion, last financial year we issued over 69,000 penalty fares and reported over 21,000 individuals for possible prosecution. We are committed to reducing the current rate of fare evasion to 1.5% by 2030/31 financial year and the strategy we now have in place will help us ensure more persistent evaders face justice.’
