“Penalty fares are in place to act as a deterrent for those who knowingly refuse to pay their way”
18:58, 26 Jul 2025Updated 18:59, 26 Jul 2025
A fare dodger being spoken to by police and a Metrolink staff member(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Tram fare dodgers in Manchester have been hit with almost three quarters of a million pounds in fines in just five months, it has been revealed.
A total of £745,000 of revenue was generated in penalty fares between January and May of this year, with around 25,000 incidents of fare evasion found to relate to contactless payments, according to figures.
A major crackdown on fare evaders – travellers not tapping in or failing to buy a valid ticket – saw the penalty charge increase to £120 back in 2023. It saw fare evasion drop by a third between July 2023 and January last year.
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‘Tens of thousands of tickets’ are checked everyday, with an increase in Metrolink staff deployed onto the network in recent years to prevent fare evasion and crack down on those who ‘knowingly refuse to pay their way’.
To ride on tram services in Greater Manchester, passengers must have a valid ticket or pass before boarding, as they cannot be purchased on the tram.
Passengers can tap in and tap out when using trams around the region(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Contactless payments, introduced in 2019, can be made on smart readers at stops. Bank cards, both physical and digital, can be used to tap in and tap out, with passengers then charged for their journeys and the zones they have travelled through. This system now also applies to Bee Network buses, with a travel cap of £9.50 per day across both.
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Single, daily, weekly and monthly passes can also be bought within the app or at ticket machines at stations. Penalty fares can then be issued as a notice during inspection or as a charge directly to a contactless card or device presented during an inspection.
Since launching on Metrolink in 2019, contactless has become the most popular way for people to pay for their travel, TfGM said, with 16.5 million journeys – around 45,000 a day – made through those methods last year.
Metrolink says since the introduction of ‘tap and go’, it is on target to generate an extra £2 million in net revenue per year, all of which will be reinvested back into the network.
Metrolink has increased their presence of staff on trams to check for valid tickets(Image: Vincent Cole – Manchester Evening News)
Fran Wilkinson, TfGM’s Customer and Growth Director, said: “Contactless ‘tap and go’ has become the most popular way for Metrolink customers to pay for their travel, with over 56 million journeys being made since the payment system launched in 2019. Tap and go has also since been extended to Bee Network buses, with more than 10 million trips made since March.
“Since October 2023 we have made concerted efforts to tackle fare evasion and protect revenue on Metrolink, deploying more staff on the network than ever before to check tickets and reassure passengers travelling by tram. Tens of thousands of tickets are checked every single day.
“We have always been transparent about the conditions of travel on Metrolink, including the use of contactless and the consequences of travelling without a valid ticket or not touching in or out at either end of journeys.
“We are continuously reminding customers to touch out and are working to improve customer information on stops, as well as running campaigns reminding people to use the same device when touching in and out.
“While we know that the vast majority of Metrolink passengers pay for their travel, penalty fares are in place to act as a deterrent for those who knowingly refuse to pay their way. However, we do recognise that customers will occasionally forget to touch out, and we will look to amend charges or issue refunds if it’s clear that there has been a mistake.”
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