Public Transport Pass Cost
Free Public Transport Pass Cost calculator with clear step-by-step results.
About Public Transport Pass Cost
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.
Formulas
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)
Worked example
With the default values below, Public Transport Pass Cost returns Saving from Buying the Pass of $20.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Rides per dayminimum 0
- 2
- Single fareminimum 0 $
- 2.75 $
- Days you will travelminimum 1
- 20
- Price of the passminimum 0 $
- 90 $
- Daily fare cap (0 if none)minimum 0 $
- 7 $
Results
- Saving from Buying the Pass
- $20.00
- Pay-as-You-Go Cost
- $110.00
- Rides Needed to Break Even
- 33 rides
- Cheaper Option
- The pass is cheaper
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Pay as you go
- 3Comparison
- 4Saving from Buying the Pass= $20.00
- 5Pay-as-You-Go Cost= $110.00
- 6Rides Needed to Break Even= 33 rides
- 7Cheaper Option= The pass is cheaper
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- Fares, caps, zones and pass validity rules vary by operator and change regularly. Check the current tariff for your network before buying.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Fares, caps, zones and pass validity rules vary by operator and change regularly. Check the current tariff for your network before buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the break-even figure telling me?
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.
Why does the daily cap matter so much?
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.
Should I count weekend and off-peak trips?
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.