Fare capping

Infrequent users of public transport services may not know if they will ride enough to need a pass, and some frequent riders may not be able to afford the upfront cost.

[3]: 9 Fare capping eliminates the need to purchase passes in advance, and offers passengers the best price on their trips regardless of how often they ride.

This benefits infrequent passengers, who may be incentivized to make more trips using public transport because they will always pay the lowest price.

The Tripperpas used contactless smart card technology from Motorola and ERG Group, and introduced a number of new features.

Fare capping on the Tripperpas was advertised as the "best price guarantee," billing passengers for only up to the cost of the equivalent Sterabonnement season ticket.

[2]: 377  At its introduction, fare capping in London was available for Oyster card users only, and was valid on local services including the Underground and buses.

[8][3]: 11 In the United States, two early examples are AC Transit and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, both in the San Francisco Bay Area, in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

[9] In the early 2020s, fare capping has been introduced by the two largest transit agencies in the United States,[10] the New York MTA and Los Angeles Metro.

In New York, a weekly fare cap is available for OMNY and contactless bank card users, for trips on the Subway and most MTA buses.

[2]: 377  This maturity has allowed the expansion of fare capping to smaller operators, using mobile apps in addition to contactless smart cards.

Multiple vendors provide these types of systems as white-label products, which have the transport operator's own branding applied.