Forum Topic

Short faring at Brentford and Chiswick

Was very interested to read about the crack down by South Western Railways on the practice of 'shortfaring'. The really amazing number was that they believed 95% of bar code tickets from Vauxhall to Waterloo were using this dodge. You don't have to use the station you are buying the ticket from as your departure point.It is annoying to know that about 1 in 20 of the people on a crowded train will not be paying the full fare but I have to admit I couldn't really think of an effective way for SWR to deal with this other than by putting on more inspectors.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 20d3 Comments

'Hundreds, if not thousands' would still represent a relatively small number of passengers travelling on these services. Most people using the trains at busy times will be paying because they are honest or, if you have a low view of the human condition, because being caught evading fares might put them at risk of losing their job. I travel often enough to see that at arrival the barriers are up at Waterloo and haven't noticed people not scanning out on a large scale.On buses, my observation is that drivers will let children and the elderly get on if they appear that they would have qualified for free travel but they will challenge other people, even at some risk to themselves. Of course it might be the case that I miss far more cases in which a passenger doesn't swipe on and the driver ignores this - but as I don't have eyes on the machine, I couldn't say for sure.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 12d

I agree with the rather regular occurrence of people getting on the bus and not wanting to pay. I recently witnessed one driver facing one such person off and finally getting told to go back to his own country for his troubles. The other was a female driver who took a person to task for getting on through the middle door and disappearing upstairs. Must be very difficult for the drivers.

Anne England ● 19d

If you think that's bad you  don't travel very often on the SWR trains. With no ticket barriers or platform staff from at least Chiswick to most stations on the way to Weybridge there are literally hundreds if not thousands of passengers a day travelling between these station for free everyday. If anyone thinks that's an exaggeration then pop to your nearest station during the rush hour and just stand and watch how many people make absolutely no attempt to tap out with a pass or phone. I get a train at  least 6 days a week and see it every time. I also travelled to Bournemouth last week and on the journey back to Brentford didn't get my ticket checked once - i could basically have travelled for free. The buses obviously aren't that bad but i see at least a dozen people a week on buses i get that don't pay. They just tell the driver they don't or can't pay and the driver waves them on rather than have an argument and delay the bus or risk personal assault of course- perhaps another reason that ticket inspectors are rarely if ever seen these days. No wonder travel is so expensive in this country.

Martin Webb ● 19d