Transit pass
A transit pass or travel card, often referred to as a bus pass or train pass etc., is a ticket that allows a passenger of the service to take either a certain number of pre-purchased trips or unlimited trips within a fixed period of time.
Depending on the transport network and on how much the pass is used, the pass may offer varying discounts compared with trips that are purchased individually. While transit passes can generally be purchased at full price by anyone wishing to use the services many employers, colleges, and universities will subsidize the cost of them, or sometimes the full amount.
Some public transport networks will allow certain types of personnel, including police officers, fire fighters, active military, and their own employees to ride their services free with proper identification and without the need to purchase a pass. In a lot of cases, the identification can be scanned on the ticket validator like any other transit pass.
Types of passes
Some common forms of transit passes are:- Day pass - offers unlimited rides on the day of purchase; ofttimes, over 24 hours. Usually available for purchase on the bus being boarded.
- Weekly pass - allows unlimited rides in a seven-day period. While some networks allow the pass to be purchased for any seven-day period, others offer these passes only for the same range of seven days.
- Monthly pass - allows unlimited rides for an entire month. Since months vary in length, the discount for the use of such a pass varies each month. Some networks allow the pass to be used for a specified 30-day or 31-day period that does not necessarily have to start on the first of the month.
- Annual pass - allows unlimited rides for the entire year and usually offers a higher discount than the monthly pass.
- Multi-trip tickets - allow bulk purchase for a lower fare per trip. Historically, these have often been in the form of tokens, but tokens are being discontinued in many places in favor of more high-tech methods of fare collection.
Asia
Hong Kong
With the Octopus smartcard many transport operators, including bus, minibus and railway companies provide free transfers or discounts on the second leg of the journey. Also, the major bus companies, as well as MTR, the railway operator, offer a discounted flat fare for senior citizens on certain days of the week, at HK$1 and HK$2 respectively.Europe
Austria
In Austria, the Klimaticket allows travelling on most trains and local public transport. It was introduced in 2021. At the regional level, the 365-Euro-Ticket permits the use of public transport.Germany
A "semester ticket" is a student transit pass issued by universities and Fachhochschulen in Germany allowing students to travel on the buses, trams, subways, and local trains of the school's home city. The cost of the semester ticket is included in the university's student fees, and it can be used in the state where the university is situated. The ticket is valid for transit on the subway, suburban trains, street trams, and buses in that state, but is not valid on Intercity-Express trains.Lithuania
In Vilnius, Lithuania, a travel card is used for the public transport.Denmark
In Denmark there is a universal travelcard called "rejsekort" which is valid all trains, buses and light rail in the country, as well as the Øresundståg to Malmö.Norway
Travel card systems are used in most of the local public transport in Norway. In the counties of Oslo and Akershus, reisekort is used for the T-bane, tramway and the Municipal bus system. In Sør-Trøndelag, t:kort is used. In Rogaland, Kolumbuskort is used. In Hordaland, Skysskortet is used. In addition, several other counties use similar travel card systems.Ireland
A prepaid TFI Leap Card is available for transport in the greater Dublin area, providing access to LUAS, DART and Dublin Bus services. The card may be topped up online.Russia
Prepaid transit passes are moving toward electronic plastic-based or paper-based contactless cards.Saint Petersburg
Early cards are plastic based and limited only for underground railway trips. For surface transportation they have unlimited trips within a fixed period of time. A passenger has to pay a security deposit of 30 roubles for the card itself. When the pass expires, passenger can recharge it with the same or another type of fare or return the card and get the security deposit back. The card itself expires 90 days after not being recharged. In this case, the security deposit cannot be returned.In 2010 appeared the first non-rechargeable disposable paper-based electronic transit passes for a certain number of trips on trams, trolleybuses and buses. They are sold with a protective foil sticker, which should be removed prior to first use. They are not time-limited except that they expire 30 days after the countrywide or citywide fare changes, which happens usually each 1–2 years.
In 2011 the "" cards came to the stage. Their difference from early plastic cards is that they have a conventional area where a fare for specific amount of time could be written and an "electronic wallet" which could be charged with any amount of roubles with an ability to get a discount - the more rides the cheaper a single ride is. Electronic wallet gets unlocked when a fixed period fare expires. Also they have bigger expiration period after not being recharged.
Spain
In Spain a travel card called creditrans is used in the city of Bilbao.Sweden
In Stockholm, Sweden a travel card is used for the municipal railway systems.Switzerland
Public transport in Switzerland is organized in tariff networks, with corresponding passes for use of rail, bus, most boats and some cable cars within the fare network. Travel around the country by public transport is facilitated with the Generalabonnement and Halbtax for residents and the Swiss Travel Pass for tourists.United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom anyone resident in England over the "age of eligibility" and people with certain disabilities travel free on most public buses throughout the country at certain times through the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme. Some councils also allow these people to travel free on trains, trams or ferries within their local areas, and/or at other times of the day, and may additionally offer local free travel at a lower age. Similar schemes were introduced in Wales in 2002, in Scotland in April 2006, and later in England. Northern Ireland runs a similar scheme but the age limit is 66.The "age of eligibility" was 60 until 6 June 2010, but increased over ten years to 65, in line with parallel changes to women's eligibility for state old age pension.
Travel card schemes for general public use are currently operated in the United Kingdom in a number of areas including:
- National Rail rover and ranger
- Greater London
- Liverpool and Merseyside
- West Midlands
- South Hampshire
- Strathclyde
- Greater Manchester
- Tyne and Wear
- West Yorkshire
North America
United States
Chicago
Unlimited Ride passes allow travel on all CTA buses and trains with a 1-Day Fun Pass, or 3-day, 7-day or 30-day unlimited-ride passes. The pass, via Ventra, activates the first time the rider uses it and is good for the number of consecutive days shown on the front of the pass.1-Day, 3-Day, 7-Day and 30-Day. Metra also offers monthly unlimited ride passes that vary in price depending on fare zones, as well as a weekend pass via Ventra that offers unlimited rides through all zones at a flat $10.