While transit passes can generally be purchased at full price by anyone wishing to use the services (senior citizens, tourists, the disabled, students and some others are often able to get them at a reduced price) 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.
Some common forms of transit passes are: 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.
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.
In the counties of Oslo and Akershus, reisekort (meaning simply "travel card", formerly Flexus) is used for the T-bane (Metro), tramway and the Municipal bus system.
Prepaid transit passes are moving toward electronic plastic-based or paper-based contactless cards.
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.
In 2010 appeared the first non-rechargeable disposable paper-based electronic transit passes for a certain number of trips on trams, trolleybuses and buses.
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 (typically between 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends and Bank Holidays) through the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme.
The company is thought to feel that 'board-anytime go-anywhere' passes complicate their new business model of "guaranteed reserved seats".
Additionally, passes valid for a 3-day period can be purchased for $9, or for 31 days for $55, at a limited number of locations.
[14] On New York City Transit, a one-way fare is currently $2.90 per trip, and allows free transfers between buses and subway.
While fares for individual trips vary, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority offers various passes for riding Metrobus and Metrorail.
Riders of Metrorail and Metrobus can transfer between the two services and enjoy a $0.50 discount if they use an electronic SmarTrip card.
Transfers are honored both ways between Metrobus and Montgomery County's Ride-on bus service.
MARC monthly passes are also honored as fare payment for all Maryland Transit Administration bus, Metro and Light Rail services in the Baltimore area at no extra cost.
The Maryland Transit Administration within the Baltimore area generally charges $1.70 for a single trip on one local bus or train.
The only transfers that are allowed in the system without additional fare payment are between the various lines of the light rail.
[15] TransLink offers several types of fare cards priced by the number of zones the user will be in.
With the purchase of any single fare, Winnipeg Transit offers free transfers that are valid for 75 minutes from the time of issuance and can be used on any regular bus route for travel in any direction, including return trips.