Transit Fare Affordability: Findings From a Qualitative Study

Abstract

Low-income groups use transit in greater numbers than others. There is little scholarship, however, about how they afford the fare. Using interviews with 25 low-income residents and 15 transportation and social service professionals, this study provides a complex description of fare affordability. It finds that low-income riders are often unable to pay for trips that fulfill daily necessities and discretionary purposes. They manage to travel by evading the fare, exploiting free transfers, forgoing goods, borrowing, and using free fare cards provided by agents of the welfare state. Professionals are largely unaware of the many ways that riders regularly compensate for low funds including the large-scale interventions made by the welfare state into public transportation. Fare evasion enforcement and pricing can pose challenges to low-income riders. By incorporating knowledge on the role that welfare plays in enabling low-income ridership, policy makers can expand access to transit for low-income riders.