Transport for London (TfL) is cracking down on fare dodgers with fines and prosecutions, as thousands of passengers jump barriers to avoid payment.
In 2025/26, TfL secured 14,406 convictions for fare evasion, an increase of 955 on the year before, and have seen a surge in the number of passengers handed £100 fines. Just over 69,000 fines were handed out in the year to the end of March, an annual increase of 9%.
Last year, a reported 400,000 journeys were evaded on a typical weekday across the TfL network - costing them an estimated £200 million a year in income.
As part of the crackdown, the TfL are increasing their checks on contactless cards, with 6.9 million contactless payment cards being checked, a 51% increase from the previous year.
According to the TfL, 3.5% of their passengers across the network evade fares, and they are aiming to cut this figure to 1.5% by 2030/31.
Siwan Hayward, TfL's Director of Security, Policing & Enforcement, said that the TfL are strengthening their capability to detect fare evasion through more customer ticket checks and officers on the ground.
Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said that those who evade paying the correct fares are depriving the TfL of essential revenue that could be reinvested into the transport network.