When it comes to passengers travelling without a valid ticket, our inspectors have heard all the excuses. We find out how new technology and communications are combining to help name and shame persistent offenders.
Look around your train carriage: can you spot the fare evader? Is it the smartly dressed woman typing into her Blackberry sitting opposite? The two teenagers discussing last night’s TV? The suited man with his nose in a newspaper? Or the scruffy guy slouched in the corner, sleeping? Think you can tell?
In reality, it could be all or none of these people. Fare evaders come in all shapes and sizes, and from all backgrounds and professions—which makes identifying them far from straightforward. That’s why South West Trains has a dedicated revenue protection team of 446 inspectors and assistants committed to catching the perpetrators and making them pay.
While 95% of our passengers travel with a valid ticket, those using our services without a valid ticket can have a significant impact on the journeys of the fare-paying majority. James Allan, Prosecutions Manager South West Trains, explains: “It’s not just that someone is travelling without a ticket, it’s that, when challenged, they can be abusive and make a scene, which is unpleasant and distressing for other passengers and staff.”
Fare evaders fall into three main categories: passengers who will only buy a ticket if and when they are challenged; those who buy a ticket that only covers part of their journey; and those who are intent on not buying a ticket at any stage.
The former two groups, who account for the majority of ticketless travel, are opportunist, as Sandra Smart, Revenue Protection Manager (Metro), South West Trains, explains: “If the queues are long, or they can see that there’s no one on the barriers checking the tickets and they know the train will be too crowded for a guard to get through, then they will take the risk.”
Reducing the window of opportunity is key to deterring these offenders. As we reported in the last issue of e-motion, South West Trains is trying to make the process of buying a ticket even easier by installing a new ticket issuing system, including those in ticket offices and new vending machines in booking halls. More than 150 stations will be fitted with a state-of-the-art system designed to speed up the ticket-buying process and reduce queues at the ticket office.
This new ticketing technology is freeing up employees to target fare evasion where it’s needed most—on trains. Opportunistic fare evaders use a busy commuter train as the perfect cover because the likelihood of a guard coming through the train seems small. But, by using the results of a monthly ticketless travel survey, which reveals the routes particularly affected by fare evasion, revenue protection inspectors can target these trains, working their way through Standard Class and ensuring First Class is only used by those who have paid the premium to sit there. You can help the inspectors by showing your ticket, even if you are asked more than once in one journey. “Carrying out ticket checks can sometimes be inconvenient for our fare-paying passengers but we ask you to bear with us because it’s the only way we can determine whether someone has a valid ticket,” says Sandra.
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