Exit Fare

An exit fare is a method of collecting ridership fees, or fare, from a transportation system where the fee (or part of the fee) is collected from passengers upon reaching their destination.

Exit fares were used on the subway lines of the early MBTA in Boston as a cost-cutting method to be able to collect increased fares without having to upgrade fare collection equipment at station entrances. The perceived unfairness of this system (what to do with a passenger who can't pay the exit fare?) prompted Boston politician Walter A. O'Brien to commission the protest song "M.T.A.".

In New York City, this system is used on the AirTrain at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The system uses an exit fare to distinguish between intra-airport trips, which are free, and connections to the subway and commuter rail, which are not. The IND Rockaway Line charged a double fare south of Howard Beach Station which entailed the deposit of two tokens for those entering along the line or one token on exit for those arriving from other parts of the system. The unpopular double fare was abolished in 1975. Exit fares are also charged on the Staten Island Railway at St. George Terminal and Tompkinsville Stations, because the primary function of the railway is to transport commuters on Staten Island to/from the Staten Island Ferry terminal at St. George. Commuters heading to Manhattan via the ferry pay upon exiting the train at St. George in the morning, and upon entry at St. George in the afternoon. Exit fares are charged at Tompkinsville because it is also within walking distance of the ferry terminal. Before exit fares were charged at Tompkinsville, one could avoid paying the exit fare at St. George by exiting at Tompkinsville and walking to the ferry terminal. By charging entry and exit fares at St. George and Tompkinsville, the other stations on the Staten Island Railway can be run at far lower cost, without any fare collection equipment or station employees present.

In Boston, the last of the exit fares were eliminated on Dec. 4th, 2006 with the implemention of the CharlieCard.

On the Washington Metro, riders process their farecards for both entering and exiting the system. The fare is actually deducted from the rider's card upon exiting the system based on the time of day and distance traveled. Exitfare machines located near the faregates allow riders to add additional value to their farecard should their card lack sufficient value to exit the station at that location. Exitfare machines do not accept SmarTrip.

Bay Area Rapid Transit also uses a similar fare-collecting method, based on distance but not time of day. On BART, while ticket vendors outside the paid area accept credit and debit cards as well as cash, the Addfare machine, which one must use if his ticket has insufficient value to exit, accepts cash only. This leads transit employees to suggest that riders carrying only credit/debit cards call a friend to bring cash to the station for them so that they may be allowed to exit.

Metro Transit in King County, Washington formerly used exit fares to implement a free ride zone in downtown Seattle. Riders going toward downtown (and on routes that do not enter downtown) paid on entry. Riders leaving downtown paid on exit. Riders traveling entirely within downtown did not pay at all. (Riders who ride through downtown needed to get a free transfer to avoid being double-charged.) After 7 p.m., no free rides were provided downtown and all trips were charged a fare. Metro ended this system on September 29, 2012. The Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has a similar system.

Many lower-volume point-to-point ticket-based transit services use exit fares in one direction, to avoid the expense of maintaining ticket offices at both ends of the line.