Transport for Wales: Fines on train lines to be expanded

Passengers who board trains without a ticket face being fined on more lines, starting next month.

Transport for Wales (TfW) is expanding its penalty fare zone lines, meaning passengers without a ticket, or without tapping in where pay as you go is live, face a fine of double the ticket fare or £20, whichever is greater.

TfW said the expanded zone, which covers lines where passengers can currently buy a ticket on the train, was to tackle fare evasion that costs “millions each year” and begins on 9 September.

It will affect the majority of trains in south Wales, including the Treherbert, Aberdare, Merthyr, Coryton, Penarth, Rhmney, Barry, Bridgend and the Ebbw Vale lines.

The current penalty fare zone lines apply for journeys between Severn Tunnel Junction and Carmarthen.

Passengers will no longer be able to buy a ticket on the train in the expanded zone.

Services in north Wales are mostly unaffected, but the expansion will apply to the Welsh Marches line, which runs from south Wales to Manchester and Shrewsbury to Birmingham.

Penalty fares on this route will be £100, in line with other English train operators.

More information about the penalty fare can be found here.

A fine may also be charged on the South Wales Metro if you:

• Travel without a valid ticket
• Travel in first class with a standard ticket
• Are unable to produce an appropriate Railcard for a discounted ticket
• Are aged 16 or over and travel on a child rate ticket
• Travel beyond the destination on your ticket or on a train service where your ticket is not valid

If passengers do not have access to the TfW app, or if ticket offices or machines are not available, then passengers are advised to pay their fare at the first available opportunity.

But conductors are entitled to check with the control room what ticket buying facilities were available at the time of travel.

Alternatively, if there are large queues at the ticket office, customers are advised to allow enough time to buy their ticket to avoid a fine.

TfW said the policy was to “protect passengers who make an innocent mistake” from those who “purposely travel without a valid ticket”.

Its FAQs state the process is “designed to identify those who are regular offenders or those who have carried out deliberate acts of fraud”.

What constitutes a deliberate act of fraud is not outlined in their policy.

Alexia Course, chief commercial officer at TfW said: “We encourage all passengers to buy before they board using the TfW website, app or by using pay as you go fares, where available.”