Sydney's golden age of fare evasion is over. Except on ferries, where passengers say fare-dodgers can ride with impunity after ticket inspectors have begun cracking down on land transport.

The majority of Sydney's ferry wharves do not have gates. Without inspectors, there is little to prevent passengers from dodging fares. When Fairfax Media took a morning ferry ride, no one could recall seeing one.

''I can't remember the last time,'' passenger Nick Truswell said. ''They pour onto the buses all the time.''

See ya: The majority of ferry wharves don't have gates.

See ya: The majority of ferry wharves don't have gates. Photo: Sahlan Hayes

The government estimates about 700,000 people a year evade ferry fares at a cost of about $2.5 million, mostly on western routes comprising Balmain to Woolwich and Darling Harbour to the Parramatta River.

Despite the perception that it is easier to dodge fares on ferries, state government research shows ferry evasion is minor compared with the rest of the transit system. Only about 5 per cent of ferry passengers dodge fares compared to 15 per cent on buses. How much this is due to ferry passengers being more honest or less policed is difficult to say.

Anti-fare evasion signs on many ferries continue to threaten a $100 on-the-spot fine despite the fact the penalty doubled long ago. Ferry passengers are significantly richer than average: 25 per cent earn over $75,000 a year compared to 10 per cent on the bus. The transport department refused to provide figures on how much time ticket inspectors spend on ferries compared to trains and buses. The Greens' Mehreen Faruqi has had little luck getting answers about the basis of the government's ticket inspection strategy and whether younger and poorer people are targeted.

''The government has refused to provide any evidence,'' she said. ''It would seem very unfair if the government were discriminating against certain modes of transport.''

The government says the vast majority of ferry passengers pass through Sydney's gated wharves - at Manly, Circular Quay and King Street Wharf - anyway. But even there dodgers are given a last reprieve to buy full-fare tickets before crossing barriers if the coast is not clear.

How long passengers can continue not paying the ferryman is unclear. Ferry passengers have been surveyed recently about how often tickets are checked. And one Sydney Ferries employee encountered on the Herald's ride said the government plans to have inspectors scan passengers' Opal cards once its new ticketing system is rolled out.

Statistics suggest inspectors are cracking down on moochers on trains and buses who until recently were riding unmolested. Between 2011 and 2012 fines handed out for fare-evasion halved. But since coming into force late last year, a new squadron of 150 transport officers has upped fines by more than one-third.