TfL is now using social media to catch out Tube fare evaders

TfL is looking into fare evaders on social media (Picture: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Transport bosses are upping their attempts to catch fare dodgers on the London Underground – by using social media. 

Fares across the Transport for London (TfL) network increased by an average of 6% on Sunday, March 5. 

But that’s not stopping TfL from cracking down on those not purchasing tickets, as bosses outline plans to catch those who ‘chronically’ don’t pay for services. 

After seeing fare evasion ‘actively promoted on social media’ in recent months, protection policy managers Nicola Bradey and John Poett outlined how it’s already’ successfully’ identifying culprits. 

Speaking at Transport Ticketing Global 2023, the world’s largest ticket conference, Mr Poett said: ‘Lots of things are happening where people actually fare evade and are recording themselves while they’re doing it.’

He added TfL is: ‘Working with our policing partners, legal team and we’ve had success with our internal investigation team actually stopping a few people who have recorded themselves fare evading.’

These videos are being uploaded and shared on the likes of TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. 

Fare evaders are being caught online now too (Picture: Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

According to MyLondon, TfL is reporting these kinds of videos to the social media platforms hosting them.

Fare evasion is thought to cost the TfL network around £100million per year.

Bosses have outlined the three types of fare evasion: accidental, calculated or chronic. 

Accidental involves a customer making a mistake, leaving them without a valid ticket for the whole journey, while calculated is when a passenger ‘tries their luck’ by using a different method or route for cheaper travel. 

Sadiq Khan this week addressed rising costs for Londoners (Picture: PA)

A chronic fare evader is a train goer who deliberately uses a method in order to not pay, such as barging through ticket barriers or threatening TfL staff when challenged.  

A TfL spokesperson said to Metro.co.uk: ‘Revenue from fares is vital for investment in safe, clean and reliable public transport, which is why we take fare evasion extremely seriously.

‘We have a comprehensive programme in place to deter offenders, including 450 officers undertaking ticket inspection and revenue enforcement activity across every mode every day. 

TfL said it has a ‘comprehensive programme in place to deter offenders’ (Picture: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

‘This programme is informed by a range of data and intelligence to identify and tackle fare evasion, including from online videos and publicly available social media posts.’

They went on to add: ‘Following the DfT’s decision to increase the penalty fare to £100 across National Rail, we are consulting on increasing the penalty fare on TfL services to act as a further deterrent.’

Chatting to Metro.co.uk earlier this week, the mayor of London addressed what he was doing to make sure the costs stay down for Londoners. 

He said: ‘What the government has done is increase the cost of transport across the country by almost 6% and made us do the same as well.

‘I think public transport has got to be affordable, accessible and safe and when you increase the cost of public transport by 6%, it could bring it out of reach for most people.’

Instead of putting a 6% increase across the board, he has tried to keep the costs lower on more popular services. 

He continued: ‘We have tried to reduce the increase across those services we know lower-paid Londoners use the most. 

‘For example, those who travel into Zone 1, we have only increased this by 10p and those who use public transport out of peak hours, it is still £2.70 for single travel, so we are trying to make it as affordable as possible. 

‘There is also the hopper fare, you can use unlimited bus travel over the course of an hour.’

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Fares across TfL increased by an average of 6% on Sunday, March 5.