We're trying to persuade Northern Rail to implement barriers and a penalty fares scheme at Manchester Piccadilly

Here is the letter that Tom Davidson wrote.

Why should fare evaders crowd out paying passengers?

Every morning I stand up on the train into Manchester Piccadilly from Mauldeth Road. The return fare is just £3.10, much the same as the equivalent bus journey and taking about a quarter of the time.

In winter time, the 3-car Class 323 units working on this route struggle to cope with low temperatures, and we are typically sent a 2-car Class 142 replacement – meaning that many passengers are often left on the platform unable to board. We need more carriages, just as many routes into Manchester Victoria need more carriages.

In the West Midlands PTE area, which operates a penalty fares scheme, a new order of Class 172 diesels have just been received, with Northern getting some of the cast-off Class 150s from the 1980s. Why hasn’t Northern been able to justify new rolling stock? Because revenue returns are so small in the North – not simply because fares are lower – but because so many people avoid paying a fare.

Almost every day on my short journey I see people fare evading. I have overheard people tutting at their friends for buying tickets and not playing 'the game' - i.e. dodging a fare by avoiding the ticket conductors. On those days when Northern place a ticket checker at the station, there is a huge queue both at the soon-to-be closed ticket office and card-only ticket machine. Even then, many people buy only a single ticket, knowing that in all likelihood tickets won’t be checked on the way back. Without that man standing there, there’s rarely a queue at all.

There is simply no incentive for people to buy tickets, with no penalty fare and little chance of being stopped by a ticket inspector. With our train usually arriving at Platform 10 or 11, there is no way the ticket inspectors are able to stop every person alighting at these platforms, but even still they usually catch 3 or 4 people who haven’t paid.

Every time a man with a ticket machine is placed on the platform side of the barrier, a huge queue forms in front. Those who dislike the idea of queuing (and of course of paying for a service they have already used) usually head up the stairs towards Platforms 13 and 14, where they can get out either on Platform 1 or down the travelators. This happens each and every day on Manchester Piccadilly station, with staff struggling to stop all those who haven’t bought tickets.

The situation is even worse on routes such as Liverpool to Manchester via Urmston, with fares for this longer-distance route higher than on the shorter Airport line. A colleague who commutes from Liverpool South Parkway (anytime return fare £16.00) is able to use the same ticket for weeks at a time by buying a ticket to Ardwick and 'changing' at Piccadilly. Whilst the system could hardly be said to encourage this dishonesty, it is currently unable to stop such fraud from occurring on a daily basis. Unashamed, he estimates fare evasion of 50% or more on this route, meaning a potential revenue loss of over £1,000 every day for every packed commuter train.

Why should train carriages be over-crowded with passengers who aren’t paying for their tickets? If we want lower rail fare increases and more railway carriages, something needs to be done about fare evasion. The following measures would make the biggest difference in the short term:

1) Penalty fares scheme similar to that on Metrolink and in London / the West Midlands
2) Ticket barriers at Manchester Piccadilly and all other major stations

Train carriages should not be over-crowded with passengers who aren’t paying for their tickets. This is not a minor issue with only a few offenders; it is practiced across the North and is costing the industry millions of pounds each year – money that could be invested in better services for those who do pay.

I agree that there should be ticket barriers installed at Piccadilly, although the open-plan layout of the station may make it difficult. There could then be one large area devoted to selling tickets to those who've arrived without one, concentrating resources in one area.

(Spare a thought for those of us on the airport line who are actually changing onto platforms 13 and 14 - we have to show our tickets every day even though we're not leaving Piccadilly station, sometimes twice if they decide to check tickets on platform 9 to gain access to the footbridge!)

what make you assume that no one has , like you, purchased a ticket??

When we do arrive on platform 9 instead of platform 11, there is a queue of around 15 people queuing for a ticket - and these are just those who don't try to dodge the revenue protection men.

Also interesting is the bias towards single tickets - people buy them knowing they won't get checked on the way back, which is no less fraudulent.

This morning was the first this week in which tickets have been checked. The conductor walked through the train checking fares, and 3 people around me bought single tickets. When we arrived into Platform 12 the revenue protection team were there, with a queue of 25 people who hadn't paid for their tickets.

£4 average fare X 25 people X 250 working days per year = £25,000 per year. This is just for one train on one route in Greater Manchester, with very conservative assumptions.

I just wanted to say how impressed I was by Northern Rail’s response to this - I had a letter published in RailNews about it that seemed to spark some debate. The revised arrangements for revenue protection have resulted in an improved flow of passengers around the station, and it even seems to have increased passenger revenue. TFGM’s Metrolink and Rail Committee recently reported that:

‘The revised method of revenue protection operation at Manchester Piccadilly is continuing. This has seen the revenue protection staff previously positioned on the overbridge being moved to the area at the bottom of the travelator and the entrance to platforms 10 and 11. This has reduced congestion on the overbridge and Northern Rail has also advised that receipts are up since the new method of operation was implemented.’

Thanks to Northern for responding so effectively.

Tom Davidson

Tom,
Thanks for the news about this, and really pleased to hear there has been a noticeable improvement.
Best regards,
Paul (FixMyTransport Volunteer)

I've seen this problem and it's really annoying when there's no ticket machine so you have to queue for ages when you get to Manchester Piccadilly. Just one question though: why do people buy a single only? A return is only usually a few pence more. If you only get a single, you run the risk of being checked again and having to buy a whole new single ticket costing much more than what a return would've!