Back in the 90s,
when this sort of thing was apparently easier, a mate of mine claimed he never bought train tickets. He'd get caught and fined once or twice a year, at £80 or so a pop, but he claimed it still worked out cheaper than spending over a fiver a day on train travel.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 21 Aug 2014, 14:50, 5 replies)

The trick is avoiding ticket barriers
If you get on and off at small stations this becomes far too simple. Back in the days when I was a student the majority of the trips into college was done without payment. The fine then was only the "full fare" which made this gamble pretty simple and cost effective.
( Batter Pudding Hurler is a figment of your imagination, Thu 21 Aug 2014, 15:32, closed)

Yep
Neither the station where he got on nor the station where he got off had barriers.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 21 Aug 2014, 16:17, closed)

I reckon they'd actually make more revenue on a lot of lines simply by having more reasonable fares. The problem isnt so much that people are willing to use this logic - its that the logic works....

The branch line from my town to the next apparently sees far more users than it does payers for similar reasons - especially at night. (Used it a few times - crammed!)
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Thu 21 Aug 2014, 18:11, closed)

I absolutely agree.
Psychology says people will be prepared to pay for something if they think it represents good value for money. Paying £10 to spend twenty minutes in an ancient, creaking, dirty and horribly slow excuse for a train is no-one's idea of a bargain, hence fares are dodged.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 21 Aug 2014, 23:37, closed)

Nah, I just don't like paying

( cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Fri 22 Aug 2014, 8:33, closed)