Make sure you’ve got a ticket on the tram
Article published: Tuesday, July 27th 2010
Nearly 2,500 people were prosecuted in a 4 month period this year for failing to pay fares on the Metrolink, according to figures released this week. In total over 5,000 people have been caught with 1,200 being issued with warnings.
Over 1,500 of those caught fare-dodging from January to April this year were subject to £50 penalty fares, yet there were also 300 successful appeals. These figures show the results of ongoing set of enforcement operations between Greater Manchester Police and Metrolink staff that is set to increase with a further 11 operations being initiated in the next year.
The statistics raise the issue of the high cost of fares. Last month, at an event in the city centre protesting public sector cuts, a representative from the Campaign for Free Public Transport spoke out against the excessive costs of Manchester’s public transport, and the reasons for creating a fair and social transport system beneficial the community. He argued that vulnerable groups that rely on public transport should not have limitations imposed on travelling throughout the city and that free public transport should be extended to children, young people, the unemployed and those in receipt of income support.
The privatisation of public transport presided under Margaret Thatcher’s regime promised to cut the costs to the commuters significantly. In 1985 Nicholas Ridley, then Secretary of State for Transport, stated that “the introduction of competition into services will put the emphasis on the customer rather than the operator. It will bring the opportunity for lower fares, new services, more passengers and better value for money for the ratepayer and taxpayer”.
Yet the reality of privatisation actually brought the opposite effect, with fare levels in the UK rising to the highest in Europe. At its peak in 1950, Greater Manchester’s public transport system carried 488 million passenger journeys per year compared to 258.5million in 2006. This is partly explained by the increase in car ownership but the closure of unprofitable bus and train routes following privatisation contributed to the figure, whilst leaving isolated communities stranded.
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Comments
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How many of those tram fare dodgers couldn’t really afford to pay? I support the idea of free, publicly run transport. In the meantime, salaried commuters who regularly fare dodge affect the bottom line of metrolink’s accounts and the cost is passed on and spread amongst those who do pay.
Comment by rumbly on July 31, 2010 at 9:19 am -
Precisely which unprofitable railway lines have been closed since privatisation? And what does a ridership figure from 1950 have to do with the effects of privatisation anyway?
Comment by Man in a shed on August 9, 2010 at 3:05 pm
The comments are closed.
