With the cost of living on the rise, so is fare evading. As people can no longer afford travel, the London Assembly is committed to hiring more police to catch the dodgers. We invited one bumper to explain themselves.
TfL increased their fare prices on 5 March by an overall average of 5.9% to £1.75 per bus and tram journey, and to £2.70 for underground and overground services. The increase came amid the already tough cost-of-living crisis, causing an increase in fare evading.
20-year-old Georgie Jay is an open fare dodger who says she can no longer afford to pay for travel.
[So, what is barrier bumping?]
Barrier bumping is when people, mainly younger people, cross TfL barriers without tapping in and avoiding paying the fare.
[How do you get away with it?] There are literally ticket inspectors everywhere these days. Well, if I see them, I exit the bus or tram and if I get asked to show them a valid ticket I turn and run to avoid confrontation. I don’t want to cause trouble; I just cannot pay it.
[Fare evading costs TFL £116 million a year. You know, that’s quite a lot of money.] Yeah, but I don’t think these price increases are fair anyway, especially with constant strikes. Why pay for a service that is constantly not doing what is supposed to do when you can bump and travel for free? More and more people are starting to see that now.
[So, you neither support the rise in council tax then?] Well, when you live in a poorer area that sees none of this money on upgrades or better pay for workers, then no. The 5.9% increase won’t make any difference, especially for young people like me.
[I think we can agree on something then. You are still young though, you have options.] Of course, but it’s still a tough time. I am waiting to join college in September working 20 hours a week and I still cannot afford the travel with monthly expenses like food.
[When did being young become so not… fun. Do you think TfL could do something to help?] Well despite the bumper fare they could set up actual discounts for young people. These ‘discounted oyster cards’ do not discount tram or bus fares.
[So, will you stop bumping?] Not at this rate.
See it, Say it… Not so much sorted.
All images, Ⓒ .