Sadiq Khan has warned that fare dodging on the capital’s public transport is “still too high”, as he urged Londoners to report it to station staff when they see it.
Transport for London (TfL) estimates that it lost about £130m in income due to fare dodging in the 2022-23 financial year. Some 3.9% of journeys were unpaid in that period – about one in 25.
(Video by Noah Vickers/Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Transport for London (TfL) estimates that it lost about £130m in income due to fare dodging in the 2022-23 financial year. Some 3.9% of journeys were unpaid in that period – about one in 25.
(Video by Noah Vickers/Local Democracy Reporting Service)
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Another crime that London is grappling with is fare dodging and the issue of it
00:04 costing millions of pounds to TfL, £130 million last year. Are you concerned by
00:09 what appears to be a rise in fare dodging across the capital?
00:12 So since 2016 fare evasion has gone down but it's still too high and that's one of the reasons why we now
00:16 we employ around 500 enforcement officers who go about to make sure
00:21 people have paid the right fares. We did a U-turn on Boris Johnson's policy to
00:27 get rid of all staff on our stations, we have staff at our stations as well. It's still
00:30 too high though. What we've got is plans in place to reduce the amount of money
00:33 we lose by people evading fares and I'd encourage anybody who sees somebody
00:39 evading fares to report that to a member of staff. Is there any evidence that the cost of
00:43 living crisis might be having an impact on people's willingness to pay their fares in TfL?
00:48 We know generally across society the cost of living crisis has led to an increase in
00:52 other forms of acquisitive crime, shoplifting and so forth. One of the
00:57 reasons why I was keen to freeze fares next year, frozen fares for five of the last
01:02 eight years, is to ensure that public transport in London continues to be as
01:05 affordable as it can be. Londoners will be pleased to know that bus fares in
01:09 London are the cheapest in the country. For those that don't know it's £1.75.