MORE than 3,000 fare dodgers were fined on the Ashton and Oldham Metrolink lines in the first four months of 2025.
Enforcement officers dished out a total of 1,980 fixed penalty notices on the Manchester–Oldham–Rochdale line from January to April, while 1,056 people were caught without a ticket on the Manchester to Ashton line over the same period.
However, transport bosses from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) say that they only keep data on specific lines rather than boroughs, so a portion of the fines will be from ticketless riders in Rochdale and Manchester.
Fran Wilkinson, TfGM’s customer and growth director, told The Correspondent: “Fare evasion is something we take very seriously and while most people who travel on our trams do so legally – by tapping in and out at the start of each journey or obtaining the relevant ticket or pass – there remain some who still think the rules do not apply to them.
“This simply won’t be tolerated and as part of a continued and concerted effort we are continuing to catch fare-dodgers across the Metrolink network – including on the Oldham-Rochdale and Ashton lines, where 1,980 and 1,056 penalty fares were issued between January and April this year.
“With more staff than ever involved in tackling this – assisted by new technology, changes to tactics, support from our TravelSafe partners and operations taking place all over the network – there is a very real prospect of being caught and it’s simply not worth the risk.”
Even when expanded to a full year, these figures are still much lower than the worst-offending lines on the Metrolink network.
More people were caught without a ticket on the Manchester to Altrincham line than any other in 2023 (9,157), one hundred more than on the Manchester to Bury line (9,057) over the same period.
Penalty fares cost £120 – or £60 if settled within 14 days – with legal proceedings beginning if the fine is not paid within three weeks.
TfGM announced earlier this year that it generated £3 million from fare evaders across the entire Metrolink network in 2024, thanks in part to the recruitment of more than 100 new enforcement officers.