The Student Room Group

How come rail fare dodging is so rampant in Britain?

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For me, sometimes I don't have the time or the cash. THe few times I've fare dodged, I've either been too late a sue up at the machine, or some money has fallen out of my pocket or something.
In Italy on regional trains no one ever buys tickets it's a lot worse there than it is here
Because going by train is so expensive.....It shouldn't cost more than going in a car, I haven't dodged a fare and wouldn't be able to because of barriers but it is ridiculous
Reply 43
Funny you say that, I have paid for every single train I have ever taken in britain. But when I went interrailing in the summer, I jumped every barrier etc, the only tickets I payed for were the long ones, where it was guaranteed I would be checked. Only got thrown off one train in Italy, and that was because I accidentally jumped on a posh train aha
This forum is unrepresentative of normal young people. Most young people wouldn't go on rants on fare dodgers.. only on TSR. Anyway, I used to do it whenever I could. Don't do it anymore since the only train ride I do is when I visit my parents - a 2 hour journey with barriers either end. So I get a half out of the ticket machine :-) If I was caught I'd pay the full fare. If they wanted to fine me, I'd just get off the train and take the next. Don't see how they could enforce a fine then.

Trains are way too expensive; more expensive than taking your car and you have to share with hundreds of other folk paying the same fare and often not get a seat.
(edited 12 years ago)
Because they're so expensive perhaps? :nooo:
I don't bother getting tickets a lot of the time. They never check.

I wouldn't mind paying if the prices were reasonable but £15 when the equivalent bus journey would be about £5 isn't.

Also in Italy I know you have to validate your ticket. In Rome I saw an inspector issue 150 euro fines in five minutes.
Reply 47
The cause for fare dodging in Britain is because the prices are unreasonable and the trains always packed. Explain to me as well why a ticket from A-B-C costs say £60 on one ticket but if you split it into two tickets it becomes half the price. What exactly is the justification for double the price then for a single ticket? It's bullcrap like that deters people from the train service.
(edited 12 years ago)
Because the fares are high, the service is poor and the likelihood of being caught is low.
Reply 49
Train halts are more popular since they don't need to be manned compared with train stations where there are physical barriers?

However, trains in NI are too expensive, not frequent (1 per hour), extremely late and I've had times when I went on a stop and reached my destination before I even saw a conductor wander through the train compartment (free journey!).
Reply 50
Original post by Forum User
Back in the day when there were less ticket barriers I used to have a somewhat cunning method of avoiding buying tickets.

I used to travel between towns A and B every day, so I would buy a return ticket from A to B. Then when I was returning from B to A, I would buy a return ticket from B to A. Because the return portions of the ticket are valid for one month from the date of issue, I would then have two return portions covering both directions of my journey. If no tickets were checked and stamped I could use these for the full month safe in the knowledge that I did *have* a valid ticket if needed, so there was no chance of ever getting a fine. Of course if the tickets were checked 100% of the time, I still didn't lose anything as I'd paid for two return journeys and received two return journeys. Probably saved about £500 a month doing this since the return was £20 and they were almost never checked!


omg why did i not know this sooner?! that is properly genius. i love how the thread started off questioning the differences between cultural attitudes, and turned into brits sharing stories and tips on how to dodge fares. makes me proud to be british :')
(edited 12 years ago)
I used to get the train to school, both stations weren't barriered or manned so i had to buy a ticket on the train. I soon discovered the I would not be checked at the back of the train as it was only a short journey, so I sat there. I then used the money i saved to buy a ticket the next day if needed. It saved my mum an awful lot of money as we had just moved house and I was in the process of changing schools. I'd hardly say it was the crime of the century!
I'll play Devil's Advocate here; maybe if there weren't so many people dodging fares, the prices might be cheaper.

Original post by Miraclefish
Because our trains are awful, over-priced, never on time, don't have enough seats and often smell.


Trains can only ever be on time or late as they can never set off early from a station.
Reply 53
Going from one small station to another you could not buy single ticket throughout whole year, but these bigger ones with those bloody barriers are different story ;-)
Reply 54
Original post by CherryCherryBoomBoom
Does Oyster not cover the whole of London though?


It covers most, but some parts which are technically London are not covered i.e. parts of Enfield (north London, but in Middlesex, but also a London borough :s-smilie:). So I assume it's the same for those parts towards the very south of south London!
Reply 55
Because it's so damn expensive.
Reply 56
I've lived in Germany for many years and have seen quite a few people get kicked off and fined for not having tickets. It's still probably less than in the UK though, lol!
Reply 57
Original post by -aimz
I've never done it (too worried about getting caught!) but I swear half the time they don't even check your ticket, especially on short journeys when there are no barriers at the station. A couple of weeks ago I got from Birmingham New St to Cardiff Central and no ticket inspector at all checked my tickets on the train the whole way.


yeah it's annoying that they dont check your tix!
I don't fare dodge, but my local station doesn't have an office or a machine so you can't actually buy a ticket. I had to get the train to work everyday for 8 months, it was during rush hour and only a 3-4 min journey so the ticket man never got to me. Paid like 11 times in 8 months. Score. Saved me over £200 (£1.10 a ticket).
I always buy train tickets as I don't want to get caught, but I don't blame people for fare dodging. Good on them if they can get away with it. Trains are so overpriced for the service you get.

I don't think fare dodging is that prevalent in the UK. I think we spend too much on revenue protection. Why have ticket inspectors on trains if you have barriers as well? Seems like a big waste of money. I think the UK is too over the top with revenue protection on trains.

I was on the train in Berlin and a German woman was caught without a ticket.

In Paris, people used to jump over the Metro barriers and nobody batted an eyelid
(edited 12 years ago)

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