SCOTRAIL'S minimum fare scheme has led to a major fall in ticketless travel and a significant uptick in revenue, The National can reveal.
The publicly owned rail operator introduced a £10 minimum fare this summer for passengers who could have bought a ticket before boarding but failed to do so.
New figures obtained by The National under a Freedom of Information request reveal the scale of the scheme's impact in its first weeks of operation.
Ticketless arrivals at gated stations stood at 1.80% between July 19 and August 3, compared with an average of 3.53% during 2025/26 – a fall of almost half.
The proportion of journeys where tickets were bought on board has also fallen substantially, from an average of 15.39% in 2025/26 to 8.93% between July 19 and August 3.
And the changes have resulted in a significant boost to ScotRail's coffers.
Internal figures show ScotRail estimates the policy had generated or protected £403,166 in additional revenue by August 3.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said the operator would judge the policy's success by changing passenger behaviour rather than how many £10 fares it handed out.
He said: “The success of our £10 minimum fare policy will be measured by the number of customers who buy the correct ticket before boarding, not by the number of minimum fares issued.
“Since the policy was announced on April 1, we estimate that increased ticket sales have generated an additional £403,166 in revenue.”
A total of 14,336 £10 minimum fares had been issued by August 3, directly bringing in £143,360.
The remaining revenue attributed to the scheme came from increased passenger compliance, including passengers buying tickets before boarding who otherwise may not have done so, as well as a reduction in passengers claiming to have travelled shorter journeys than they actually had.
Campbell added: “The majority of that increase has come from customers buying before they board who may otherwise have travelled without paying.”
The operator recorded more than 1.5 million additional journeys bought before boarding between April and August 3.
It also identified 93,753 “protected journeys” – defined as journeys bought before boarding which ScotRail estimates would otherwise not have been paid for or where a passenger would have claimed to have travelled a shorter distance.
ScotRail first announced the minimum fare policy on April 1, before running a three-month education phase ahead of its implementation on July 1.
A total of 11,932 minimum fares, worth £119,320, were issued during the reporting period running from June 21 to July 18.
A further 2401 fares, worth £24,010, were issued between July 19 and August 3.
Just 65 appeals against minimum fares had been recorded by that point.
ScotRail said exemptions remain in place for passengers who are unable to buy a ticket before boarding because purchasing facilities are unavailable or for accessibility, safeguarding or other exceptional reasons.
Campbell said: “We will continue to make customers aware of the requirement to hold a valid ticket before boarding, while ensuring appropriate exemptions remain in place for anyone who is unable to purchase a ticket because facilities are unavailable, or because of accessibility, safeguarding, or other exceptional circumstances.”
