Free Public Transport Pass Cost calculator with clear step-by-step results.
A travel pass is only worth buying above a certain number of journeys, and that threshold is simply the pass price divided by the single fare. The comparison also has to respect any daily fare cap, because a capped network already gives you most of a pass's benefit without the upfront cost — in a city with a $7 cap, two $2.75 rides a day never reach the cap and the pass has to beat $5.50 a day rather than the uncapped fare.
Pay as you go
Daily = min(rides × fare, daily cap); total = daily × travel days
Comparison
Saving = pay-as-you-go total − pass price; break-even rides = ceil(pass price ÷ fare)
Fares, caps, zones and pass validity rules vary by operator and change regularly. Check the current tariff for your network before buying.
How many single fares the pass costs. Take more journeys than that over its validity and the pass wins; take fewer and you have overpaid for the convenience.
Capped networks charge you the cheaper of your actual journeys or the cap, which is effectively an automatic day pass. Where a cap exists, an explicit pass only pays off if it undercuts the cap across your travel days.
Yes, if you will make them. Passes usually win once occasional leisure trips are added to a weekday commute, which is exactly the usage people forget to include.