COMMUTERS who never buy a ticket will not be the main target of a crackdown on fare evasion, the State Government says.

Public Transport Victoria's Network Revenue Protection Plan identifies six key types of fare evasion.

It says only a small proportion of passengers always dodged buying a ticket.

"This group should not be the specific focus of revenue protection activity," the plan says.

It's estimated about 9.4 per cent of commuters evade fares, costing taxpayers $74 million a year.

Efforts to reduce fare evasion are expected to focus on commuters who inadvertently or opportunistically evade paying fares and those who believe it is cheaper to pay an occasional fine than pay each time they travel.

The plan has four components: compliance, ticketing systems, customer education and marketing.

"There is also evidence that other factors influence fare evasion even more subtly through allowing people to rationalise or validate their behaviour, including public transport system performance levels, fares and concessions policy and media coverage," the plan says.

The report says methods to cut cheating would be improved as more PSOs were deployed, allowing authorised officers, who check tickets, more freedom to patrol trams and buses instead of trains.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union opposes the plan and is expected to meet the government early next week.

The union's state secretary, Trevor Dobbyn, said the union had a letter from then police minister Peter Ryan, saying it was not intended PSOs would take over the role of ticket inspectors. They would only check tickets if someone was loitering or a suspected offender, it said.

Government spokeswoman Larissa Garvin said PSOs would not necessarily be checking tickets.

"The PSOs are not part of the Public Transport Victoria plan and are not part of the revenue protection strategy," she said.

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed last week PSOs issued 794 fines to commuters for failing to produce a valid ticket between February and December 2012.

With Michelle Ainsworth

Originally published as Soft touch for serial fare evaders