Transit Fare Equity: Understanding the Factors Affecting Different Groups of Users’ Payment Method

Abstract

Social equity concerns have been emerging in public transit planning. Most of the social equity research in transportation focuses on understanding different groups of users’ accessibility to various destinations. In contrast, as cities try to provide different payment options for transit users, which come with different costs per trip, limited research has been developed to under-stand the type of transit fares used by different groups of riders. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide an empirical investigation of the factors affecting the use of different types of fares by different segments of users, while assessing if there is an association between the use of different fares and socioeconomic issues to understand the equity of fare usage. Using data extracted from Saskatoon Transit’s farebox system, several segments of users are defined based on their travel patterns (i.e., frequent, infrequent, and casual users). Fare options analyzed include using exact cash payments, disposable cards, smart cards loaded with multiply options (monthly, yearly, economic) and multi-ride packages (10-ride packages). The results of the models suggest that using different fare media types is more sensitive to socioeconomic factors, rather than built environment and transit service internal factors for different type of users. Key socioeconomic factors such as educational level, percentage of visible minorities, average household size, and in-come are associated with some fare types for some users more than others.