A major train operator has launched a considerable crackdown on passengers deliberately purchasing tickets for only a portion of their journey, typically the ending stretch, a practice known as ‘short-faring’.
South Western Railway (Swr) identified widespread misuse of electronic tickets by individuals engaged in this form of fare evasion – with 153 short-faring offences detected compared to seven during the same period last year.
The operator found that up to 95% of barcode tickets purchased for the four-minute route between Vauxhall and London Waterloo were being used fraudulently. These cheaper tickets, valid for the short Vauxhall to Waterloo journey, are often used to open barriers at London Waterloo, despite passengers having travelled from much further afield on Swr’s network, which extends to Devon and Dorset.
This fare-dodging is putting an estimated £1 million of Swr revenue at risk. In response, the company has deployed additional revenue protection staff at Vauxhall to ensure that all electronic tickets are scanned upon entry to the station. This measure allows staff at London Waterloo to identify fare dodgers, as an unscanned electronic ticket from Vauxhall suggests that the passenger has travelled from a further location.
Any passengers caught without the correct train ticket must pay a Penalty Fare of £100 and buy a single ticket for their journey. Those found to be repeat offenders can face prosecution.
Early data suggests about a third of passengers previously identified by Swr as conducting the short-faring scam are now purchasing the correct ticket for their journey.
Matthew Winnie, Swr and Network Rail Wessex Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, said that they are tackling the less visible forms of fare fraud, including short-faring and misuse of e-tickets, in order to ensure that money is not taken away from reinvesting into the railway.
Industry body, the Rail Delivery Group, estimates that at least £350 million to £400 million of annual fares revenue is lost to fraud and ticketless travel each year. Swr, which revealed that all forms of fare evasion cost it about £40 million annually, said it has cut the practice by 67 per cent since 2017.