Have you ever not paid your fare on a train or bus?

Question

Would you tell if you did not pay on some form

of public transport.

What was the furthest you have travelled for nothing.

All aboard

Answer 1

Yes, and here's some good fare dodging tips for you; If you ever arrive at Cardiff Central without a ticket, go down in the lifts as they often are too short staffed to man the barriers and leave them wide open. Try to find stops on your route which are unstaffed and try to leave or join at these stations. Sit as far away from the conductor as possible, They are often very lazy, and can't be bothered to come and collect your fare. If you want to try it on, just say 'I've already shown you my ticket'. See what happens.

Otherwise get one of those 'free' wheelchairs from Asda and you get 50% off. Otherwise you need a disabled rail card for a 30% discount. Don't bother trying to pretend you have cerebral palsy either, it doesn't work, and for gods sake don't try this in front of your work colleagues as you'll just end up having to leave the company like i did.

As a last resort, go onto EBAY and you can find most train companies staff on their selling their uniforms, buy one and ride on your chosen train service for nothing ( you could even try driving the train ) but you could also end up in front of magistrate charged under section 27 of the public order offences, and you could too possibly end up being fined £275 plus £45 costs.

Answer 2

I haven't and wouldn't do it because I am convinced that if I did something against the law like that I would get caught out.  Nothing wrong with being honest and paying your way.

Answer 3

When I was a student I travelled to college by rail and when returning late there was often no-one at the barrier to check my ticket. The ticket being valid several days and not being clipped or stamped it could be used again without anyone being the wiser.

Sometimes I have boarded a train at an unstaffed station: the guard was supposed to come round and sell tickets but didn't bother. The destination also being unstaffed I made the journey without paying.

Answer 4

Guildford to Hastings - before the invention of automatic barriers.

Answer 5

As it happens, because of my work I don't HAVE to pay fares, but judging by the INfrequency with which I ever have my pass inspected, I suspect that an awful lot of people quite often chance getting away without buying a ticket. Until they bring back ticket BARRIER inspections AND have loads of travelling ticket inspectors this situation will continue, and is one of the reasons why transport rarely pays for itself.

Answer 6

When I was student scum in Newcastle in the mid 90's I spent a year on the Metro without getting caught.

Answer 7

I once did a whole year at college on last year's season ticket.  Great Bookham to Ewell East and back every day for an entire year - that's a lot of miles!  Oh, those were the days ...

Answer 8

yes and 7 miles.

Answer 9

Travelling with the intent of evading your fare is a crime. There are several methods of detecting fare-dodgers, the most obvious being the deterrent, i.e. ticket barriers. The rail industry does have other means of revenue protection, one of which is a covert surveillance operation in a known problem area. A person may think they are getting away with it over a period of time, only to find that the person sitting near them is either a revenue protection officer, or a police officer, in plain clothes. The first the offender will know is that they get a tap on the shoulder, then the full weight of the law descends upon them like a ton of bricks, just as it should.

Answer 10

Yes always.

For those of you who do not and wonder why the fares go up by so much. Think about how much money the companies would get and how much less the increases would be if you start paying.

Remember, if you are caught without a ticket you are no better than a common thief! And deserve a the fine, court appearance and custodial sentance perhaps.

Answer 11

Well, there have been several occasions where I have not paid for a ticket.

One time we were travelling into London Liv. St. and the tciket office was closed at Bush Hill Park.

We ended up deciding to get off at Seven Sisters. to avoid the barriers, and to buy a ticket, but it tured out that barriers had been installed to the ticket booth. We got back on a train, and went all the way to Bethnal Green, where we caught a Bus.

Another time we were going to Manchester from Buxton, and bothe the Car Park Ticket Machine and the Train Ticket Machine were out of order. We couldn't see anywhere to pay, so we simply got n the train!

On return, we found a Parking Ticket on our car's windscreen, but we didn't pay that either!

(Both these incidents were down to WAGN and FIRST. We are law abiding citizens and would never dodge fares on purpose. We only refused to pay the Parking Fine, because the machine was not working.)

Answer 12

I regularly travel from central London to Epsom without paying. Only on a Sunday though cos I know the barriers at Epsom will be open!

Answer 13

Yes - Ronkonkoma to Penn Station - 50.3 miles

LIRR didn't ask for my ticket.  Not my fault if they didn't collect.

Answer 14

not paid on train loads cos they have closed ticket offices and no inspector men on the train on late nights, i would pay though if i could but im hardly gonna mail a cheque to first trains over it

Answer 15

When I was in Hamburg I never paid for the train or the tube once. Harder to get away with it in the U.K though.

Answer 16

NO as it is wrong

ain't I a goody! goody!

Answer 17

ticket less travel is often seen as very petty and rail staff are often verbally abused or assaulted when they challenge offenders, It worth noting that if all travellers on trains had a valid ticket for their journey then the increase in revenue would have negated the need for a price rise earlier this year. Also if found without a ticket then a criminal record along with fines of up to £1000 and 3 months in jail are available to the courts,

Answer 18

I've traveled between local stops with out paying twice.  got nabbed both times.

the first time they had installed a turn style at the stop i was going to. so i had to pay there.

the second time an inspector asked for my ticket and i had to pay him.

Answer 19

Do you mean, "Am I a thief?"

The answer would be, "No."

Answer 20

NO,  I've always paid my fare ! !

Answer 21

yes. sometimes, on the train when not a lot of people are on it, they get lazy and don't come by, so i don't pay! lol.

Answer 22

Yes! As a student I took the train from Cornwall to Sheffield ... but got stopped at Derby by the ticket collector. The intention was always to pay the full fair (I didn't get the chance to buy the ticket at the station cos I was in a rush) but it wasn't until I got to Derby that a ticket inspector even showed up!

In the end I gave him £5 ... which he pocketed!!!

Answer 23

quite often, it's not so easy on buses, but trains it's dead easy! i often used to do one stop each day on the train for nowt when i was going to college but that was years ago! or sometimes going into Manchester after 8pm they wouldn't charge for some bizarre reason!

Answer 24

The San Diego Trolley system works on an honor system with periodic checks by law enforcement. The fine is $80 US if caught. When I was low on money, I rode 40 miles without paying. Felt very uncomfortable on the train, every time it stopped, I checked the platform to see if a constable was going to board.

Answer 25

Thanksgiving my girlfriend and I took the Metro North from Grand Central to New Haven, and the train was so crowded that the conductor never made it around to us to take our tickets, so we saved them and used them a different time. Not too shabby.

Answer 26

Yeah i have, 1 because the booth was closed and 2 i just couldn't be botherd.... and i travelled from north london to hertfordshire!  it was quite far to be honest! And on a bus all the time... i get free travel though because im still 17 but i never use the travel card when im supposed to!

Answer 27

YES as the ticket inspector did not come through the train to sell me a ticket if he wants my money he can come and get it I would of paid he he had come to me

Answer 28

well all the time -because I dont need since I had a pass