More than one in 10 trips on the South Coast line are made by someone looking for a free ride.

The line also loses the most money from fare evasion in the regional network.

Transport for NSW’s latest fare compliance survey includes data from May to December 2015.

The survey involved the checking of more than 66,000 Opal cards and paper tickets – including magnetic stripe tickets – across trains, buses, ferries and light rail.

Between May and December, the compliance rate on the South Coast line was 89.8 per cent, which meant 10.2 per cent of rail trips were made by fare dodgers.

When it comes to fare dodging, only the Hunter line is worse, at 16.4 per cent.

The rate of fair evasion on the South Coast line is also more that double that on most Sydney train lines.

When it comes to the cost of lost revenue, the South Coast line tops the regional network – losing $1.1 million.

That equates to 34.4 per cent of lost revenue across the entire regional network.

As well as simply not paying a fare at all, Transport for NSW said those travelling past their stop, or travelling on a concession to which the person is not entitled were also considered fare evaders.

“Fare evasion is unfair to the majority of people who do the right thing,” said a TfNSW spokesman.

“Revenue lost means less money going towards public transport improvements like more services and better infrastructure.”

The spokesman said the levels of fare evasion on the South Coast line remained around 10 per cent in 2015.

“This is a busy line and for this reason the estimated revenue loss is higher than on other regional lines with a lower patronage,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman said officers from the Police Transport Command and the department’s Transport Officers patrolled trains.

“We know there is more work to do which is why we use our intelligence to target known hotspots, so if we notice any problem areas, we will look to address them immediately,” he said.