Increased TfL penalty fares working, mayor claims

Increased penalty fines for fare dodging are having a positive impact and the measure is working as an "effective deterrent", the Mayor of London has said.

In March last year, penalty fares increased from £80 to £100, with discounted penalty fares for early payment also rising from £40 to £50.

Sir Sadiq Khan added fare evasion on London's transport network remains "lower than many comparable cities in Europe and North America", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, City Hall Conservatives said Sir Sadiq and his team were "in denial about the scale of the issue", and would only be able to make serious progress in tackling it with support from police officers.

The changes to penalty fares mirrored an increase on national rail services made by the Department for Transport.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, fare evasion across the TfL network stood at an estimated 3.8% of all journeys, the mayor said in an answer to a written question from a London Assembly member last month.

Sir Sadiq pointed out the rate decreased slightly in the quarter following the penalty fare change, to 3.4% between April and June of 2024.

"This is an early indication that the increased penalty fare of £100 is proving to be an effective deterrent," the mayor said.

Figures covering July to September 2024 would ordinarily be available by this point too, but have been delayed due to the measures put in place following the cyber attack on TfL last year, Sir Sadiq added.

Despite this, fare evasion across the network is still more than double TfL's target of below 1.5%.

In a further written answer on the topic of fare dodging, Sir Sadiq told the Assembly the fare evasion rate in London "remains lower than many comparable cities in Europe and North America".

"For example, in New York, the rate of fare evasion sits at 13% on the metro system," he explained.

"The same rate in London would equate to over £400m of lost revenue per year. We continue to monitor best practice through regular international benchmarking meetings."

But Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives' transport spokesman, said: "City Hall authorities are in denial about the scale of the issue.

"The Met Police withdrew from supporting fare evasion operations over a lack of political support from the mayor about their work, and so if Khan is serious about tackling this issue he needs to get around the table with the Met and support them to get back on the beat with TfL staff at stations."

Mr Prince's claim refers to the fact the Met announced they had ceased "involvement in supporting Transport for London fare evasion operations", after a Met officer was convicted of assaulting a woman as she was wrongly accused of bus fare evasion. This conviction was later quashed.

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