Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Penalty fares go up

Starting on 11th January 2008, the penalty fare for non payment on London's Bus, Tube, DLR and London Overground services increased to £50 from the previous level of £20. Apparently the penalty is reduced to £25 if paid within three weeks. Conceptually this is similar to what happens to many parking tickets.

Spending in excess of £3,000 per year on my season ticket, I certainly have no problem with this increase in the penalty charge amount. What the tfl press release does not say, is how many people are actually fined, how many people are prosecuted and how much revenue is raised through the penalty fare system.

1 comment:

James (UK) said...

What I think we need with this type of crime is something you can "apply" that will effect every single person committing the offence.

With a fine, most people won't have the cash on them, or will refuse / say they are not able to pay etc. Neither the Inspectors nor the Police could search them for money, and then what if they give a false (but valid) name and address?

What we need is something quick, easy to carry out by one person, and permanent.

Civil liberties-aside, I'm thinking of something as simple as storing their image in a database, and being able to scan everyone against that database as they board the bus, tube, train... whatever, and stopping them from boarding somehow.

I'm sure you can see where I'm going, it's just what and how that are the problem.

It's a bit like the abandoned shopping trolleys... my view; charge people a £50 deposit. They'll bloody look after them then! They could swipe a card, that releases a trolley, and when they dock it back again, the "pending" charge is cancelled.