Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

What if I told you that poor people pay more to ride transit than rich people. Seems unfair, right?

But that's one of the unintended consequences of most unlimited ride passes most U.S. transit agencies offer. Weekly or monthly passes can do wonders for riders, but the upfront cost is often too much for low-income people to afford, so they end up paying more per ride than people who don't blink at the price of an unlimited.

In this video, TransitCenter explains how a policy known as "fare-capping" makes unlimited transit passes available to people who can't cover the full cost all at once.

The concept is simple: If you purchase single rides, the system still caps the price you pay in a given period. So if a single fare costs $2.50 and a daily pass costs $5, you can take three or more rides in a day and still only pay $5. Weekly or monthly spending on fares would be capped in the same way.

Last year, Portland's Tri-Met became the first U.S. agency to institute fare-capping. The agency estimated it would reduce fare revenue between 1 and 1.5 percent, but would also reduce fare evasion.

In order for fare-capping to work, agencies need to have a fare system in place that counts how many trips people make with their farecards. As more agencies adopt reloadable farecards that track people's rides, fare-capping should become standard practice, TransitCenter says.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: Amtrak Is Way More Successful Than You Think

Why do so many people still treat Amtrak as a failure — and what would it take to deliver the rail investment that American riders deserve?

October 24, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Are Hanging Out Down the Street

The same old thing we did last week — until the neighbor wrote a letter to the editor.

October 24, 2025

Report: Lessons from California’s HSR Project

A new paper from the Mineta Institute looks at California's high-speed rail project—and how to do better moving forward.

October 23, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Life After Cars

Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon of The War on Cars podcast on their new book, opposing views, Turtle Jesus and potential off-ramps towards car-free cities.

October 23, 2025

Traffic Congestion Is a Housing and Transit Problem, Not a Highway Problem

To truly solve tangled traffic in California (and across the U.S.), we need to take the problem out of the hands of the road builders and address the root causes of congestion: building more affordable housing near jobs and improving public transportation options.

October 23, 2025

Truckers Back NYC Busway Plan That Trump Blocked

The federal government has obviously lost its trucking mind.

October 23, 2025
See all posts