Fare Dodgers

It’s one of those subjects where I am torn with what to think. Apparently the number of people dodging the fares on London buses has doubled in the past four years, and the people dodging fares on the train costs the operators £270million.
Obviously it is basically stealing, because people are getting a service which they are not actually paying for. Then again, don’t the operators make enough profits as it is anyway? If the fare was reasonably priced then I think fewer people would be dodging, but because the cost of public transport is extortionate people are obviously going to try to avoid paying.
Personally I’ve always paid whenever I’ve used public transport, and I know that I always will, that being said I can understand why people do dodge the fairs. It does seem a bit irritating when we think that we pay to use the service of the train/bus and some people get away with not bothering, but that money would only go straight into the pockets of the operators anyway, and with the cost of travelling as high as it is I’m guessing they make enough profit anyway.