ScotRail new £10 minimum fare for ticketless passengers comes into force

Scotland’s national train operator is formally introducing a new £10 minimum fare from Wednesday.

From the start of July, the minimum fare will apply to customers who get on board without buying a ticket before they travel, where ticket buying facilities were available to do so. 

It’s estimated fare evasion costs Scotland’s Railway more than £11m each year.

Signage and posters have been in place at stations and on trains, supported by station announcements, radio advertising, and increased social media activity.

For many shorter journeys, the minimum fare will be higher than the standard ticket price. For example, a return between Bishopbriggs and Glasgow Queen Street costs £3, meaning a customer who gets on the train without a ticket could end up paying significantly more.  

Independent analysis of ticketless travel shows that many passengers travelling without a ticket could have bought one before boarding. The station ticket office was open in 74% of cases, while 90% of journeys involved stations with working ticket vending machines.  

Scotrail say the change is also expected to help reduce anti-social behaviour on the railway, which they say is linked to a small minority of passengers travelling without a ticket.  

The minimum fare will not apply to a number of circumstances including ticket offers such as Kids for a Quid, Certain concession tickets, where stations do not have retail facilities, where customers have disabilities preventing them from using ticket machines or accessing booking offices.

ScotRail’s Revenue Protection team says ticketless travel has reduced from 8.8% in April 2022 to its current level of 2.63% due to the campaign.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said:   “We want to say thank you to customers who have learned from our education campaign prior to the minimum fare being introduced on July 1.

“We know most people are honest and pay the correct fare but the minority who don’t are costing the railway millions of pounds each year.

“There are lots of different ways customers can pay for their ticket before they start their journey, and ScotRail staff will continue to help people understand how to do this.

“The success of our new policy will not be measured by the number of minimum fares we hand out, but by the amount of people who buy a ticket before getting on board a train.

“The education campaign, which has resulted in almost three quarters of a million more journeys being bought before customers get on board, has been a resounding success and we look forward to more and more people doing the right thing and buying before they board.”