Transit agencies that do not charge flat fares must typically come up with a rationale for setting fares that is understandable to the public and is perceived as fair. Hence, some agencies have codified their fares in simple formulas. The following are several examples of fare formulas adopted by transit agencies that show both distance-based and time-based fares.
BART provides train service on a 104 mile system in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 44 stations in the system. About half of the patronage on BART is across San Francisco Bay; during the morning commute period almost half the trips crossing from the East Bay to San Francisco are made on BART. Average weekday patronage is over 400,000. BART was originally built to serve the three counties that voted in 1960 to fund the service. These three counties passed a special sales tax to support BART service. Service was later extended beyond the original three “BART counties” that do not provide direct support to BART. Hence, passengers who board the system in other counties are typically charged higher fares. Table 17 shows the current formula used by BART to calculate fares. Note that the fare per mile decreases for longer distance trips over 14 miles. This example is also worth noting because it shows how a distance-based formula can be modified to account for special costs incurred by the system. For example, a premium for trips to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is applied to help offset the additional cost to BART to go to the airport.2
Type Trip length
Application
Amount
Minimum Fare: Up to 6 miles
$1.85
Between 6 and 14 miles
$1.93 + 14.1¢/mile
Over 14 miles
$3.04 + 8.5¢/mile
Transbay
$0.94
Daly Surcharges
Speed differential
Citya
San Mateo
$1.08 Countya
$1.37
Capitalb
$0.13
Premium fare applied to trips to/from SFO
$4.27
Charge differential for faster or slower than average trips, based on scheduled travel time
±5.4¢/minute
a
San Mateo County, which includes Daly City, is not one of the three counties that provides sales tax support for BART. b Special capital surcharge for persons in the three counties that provide sales tax support for BART. Source: San Francisco Bay Area Transportation District, Planning Department.
2
The BART extension to SFO was funded in part by money from the Federal Aviation Administration. In return, BART was required to pay an annual rent to the airport and to give a 25 percent fare discount to airline employees.