UK: In an effort tackle fare evasion, ScotRail is to introduce a £10 minimum fare for people who purposely board a train without a valid ticket. This will in many cases be more than the standard fare, particularly for short journeys.
There will be no additional charge where the cost of the ticket for the journey is already more than £10, but there is still a requirement for customers to buy before they board to qualify for any other discounted rail travel.
ScotRail does not have a Penalty Fare system like England and Wales. The introduction of a minimum fare follows independent analysis of ticketless travel which found that many customers who did not purchase a ticket before boarding had opted not to use an open ticket office (74%) or an operating ticket vending machine (90%).
ScotRail also anticipates that the change announced on February 2 will help to reduce anti-social behaviour on the railway.
There are exclusions for customers who hold a national entitlement card, if a station doesn’t have an open ticket office or vending machine, and if a customer has a registered disability that prevents them from using TVMs. Staff will have the discretion to issue the minimum fare depending on the customer’s circumstances. People who can only pay with cash would obtain a ‘promise to pay’ ticket from a TVM and then purchase a ticket from on-train staff.
A period of education will be implemented from April 1 until July, following which the £10 minimum fare will be put in place.
Commenting on the announcement, Alex Campbell, Policy & Insight Director at the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said ‘passengers recognise that fare evasion is a problem that the railway should address, both to challenge anti-social behaviour and to protect against revenue loss. However, implementing the minimum fares policy should take place after a period of engaging with passengers and explaining the proposed changes. Passengers also make honest mistakes that should not be confused with fare evasion. The discretion element of the policy should err on the side of passengers when genuine mistakes are made.’
Fare evasion in Scotland
ScotRail said fare evasion is estimated to cost Scotland’s Railway more than £11m each year. It said it recognises that there are a range of tickets available with differing terms and conditions, and staff are trained to support customers who have made genuine mistakes, only taking more formal action where deliberate evasion is suspected.
It estimates that ticketless travel has dropped from 8·8% to 3·7% since April 2022, thanks to changes including a dedicated channel for staff to report ticketless travel and fraud, briefing sessions and increased engagement with frontline teams and renewed on-train mobile equipment for staff. Its its revenue protection team generates around £2m/year.
