Research: Sustainable Fares and Funding

Ensuring that metro fare and funding structures are sustainable is vital to cover both short-term operating costs and to continue investment in the metro to maintain service quality for the longer term. The study brought together information from 33 metros to explore how metros set and review fares, to compare fare structures, fare levels and fare products across metros, and to understand how COVID-19 has impacted fares and funding arrangements.

Considerations for setting metro fares

Fare revenue is the largest and most important revenue source for metros. The study builds on previous work in COMET on fares and funding by particularly considering the sustainable element of metro revenue generation, considering important current factors such as rising inflation and prices, fare adjustment mechanisms, and concessionary fare offerings.