University of Oregon professor studies the problem of cash-less bus fares

(OCTOBER 7, 2022) Today there are many ways to pay a bus fare. Instead of counting change into a farebox, transit riders can quickly tap their phone or swipe a transit card. These modern options bring increased convenience for many riders. Getting on the bus takes less time. But cash-less options also leave behind some users. Maintaining an option to pay with cash remains an essential part of fair public transit, a new study says.

Anne Brown is a professor at the University of Oregon in Eugene. She worked with researchers at other universities to study public transportation issues. Public transportation agencies in Eugene, Portland, Denver, and Washington, D.C. started the project to evaluate how removing cash fares on buses would affect people’s access to transit. As part of the study, Brown and her colleagues conducted surveys and talked with groups of people. They wanted to riders’ concerns about the possible removal of cash fares.

Here are some conclusions: Low-income people are more likely to rely on public transit on a daily basis. They’re also less likely to have a credit card, smartphone, or even the cash reserves to pay for a monthly transit pass upfront. So removing cash fares would hit hardest for the people who need transit the most.

More specific concerns emerged, too. Some riders expressed privacy concerns over having a fare card linked to a credit card. Or they worried the card would be stolen. Others described the difficulty of reloading fare cards. If people have to visit a gas station or convenience store to reload their bus card with cash, how will they get there?

Brown’s team also studied the economics of cash fares for the public transportation agency. For example, maintaining cash fare boxes is very expensive. Each one can cost thousands of dollars. But accepting cash also increases ridership. It gives people more flexibility to hop on a bus without having to set up an account or link a credit card. So although cutting out cash on buses could save money upfront for transit agencies, that savings would be less than the lost revenue from having fewer riders.