Transport User Voice February 2025 – Improving revenue protection practices

31 January 2025

Playing fair with passengers 

Fare evasion has long been an issue for the railway, but passengers shouldn’t be treated like criminals for making an innocent mistake.  

A fairer approach to revenue protection can improve the passenger experience and help the railway claw back lost revenue to invest. This month, we published a set of initiatives that will help achieve this while building passenger confidence in the railway. 

Some of these proposed measures include: 

  • the introduction of a nationwide ‘Yellow Card system’ – which would record when passengers make a first time mistake to check against future instances 
  • a Railcard Database to ensure eligibility for discounts can be easily checked 
  • establishing a simpler fares and ticketing system so that key facts are not buried in the small print 
  • increased measures to collect fares to demonstrate to passengers that the industry cares about collecting its revenue.  

Purchasing a valid ticket isn’t always straightforward and passengers can sometimes experience inconsistent practices by train operators rightfully trying to collect their fares. 

Our call for change is timely, with the Department for Transport asking the Office of Rail and Road to run a review into train operator’s revenue protection practices. We will be sharing our views as part of the review and urge passengers to do the same. 

Our full list of recommendations can be found here 

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