Know Your Fare, Choose Your Ride: The Power of GTFS Fares

How Agencies and Vendors Can Enhance Rider Experience with Transparent Fare Information

Imagine your flight has just touched down at JFK. You deplane and start figuring out how you’re going to get from the airport to your hotel. Taxis are available but you don’t know what the trip will cost you and surge pricing is active on the ride-hailing apps so prices are high. So, when you finally open your favorite transportation app, you can see that public transportation options are nearby, the price is much cheaper, and payment is contactless.

This is what life is like with GTFS Fares! Now, let’s talk about the details. 

GTFS Fares: What It Is and What It Can Do

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification). It’s a community-driven open standard for rider-facing transit information, stewarded by MobilityData and used by over 10,000 transit agencies worldwide.

What you might not know is that GTFS Fares—a feature of GTFS—allows agencies to show ticket and pricing information details to trip planners.

Why does this matter? The biggest impact is that it reduces uncertainty around costs and ticketing, making public transit a more reliable and attractive option for even more people. Cost is also a major factor for riders, and public transportation is typically more affordable than alternative options. Accurately displaying price differences can be the deciding factor in whether potential riders choose to use public transit. 

Further, by providing ticket information upfront, riders will have fewer questions for agency staff, reducing wait times at information desks and ticketing machines. This ultimately makes public transportation a smoother, more seamless experience.

Now that we have a better understanding of what Fares can do, let’s break down the different features of GTFS Fares.

Fare Products & Fare Media

First, let’s talk about Fare Products. These are the types of tickets or fares a transit agency offers, like single-trip tickets, monthly passes, or transfer fees. Currently, the specification can model most single-trip type tickets.

Fare media refers to the various methods used to store fare products, such as paper tickets, reloadable transit cards, and contactless payment options. 

With GTFS Fares, agencies can share information about fare products and media, displaying various ticket types, pricing options, and available payment methods for riders. This combination of benefits can ultimately lead to an increase in overall ridership.

Newly Adopted – Rider Categories

We’re also incredibly excited to share that Rider Categories have been added to GTFS Fares! This vote passed on February 13th, 2025 and was officially adopted to the specification.

So what is it? Well, Rider Categories are groups of passengers, like adults, children, seniors, or students, who may get different fare pricing based on their age, status, or needs. 

Rider Categories were designed with agencies in mind to help maintain consistent fare policies across both digital and traditional platforms, regardless of the different rider categories. This is especially important for attracting more riders by offering tailored pricing that reduces price uncertainty.

Fares Covers Most Fare Structures, From Simple to Complex!

Whether an agency uses time based, zone based, or route based pricing, GTFS-Fares has you covered!

Why Agencies Should Care

If you’re a transit agency, the benefits of adopting GTFS Fares are clear:

• Model Existing Fare Policies: Accurately represent fare structures in trip planners.
• Enhance the Rider Experience: Provide upfront pricing to simplify ticketing and boost satisfaction.
• Opportunity to Increase Ridership: Fare transparency makes public transit a more attractive option.
• Reduce Operational Strain: Fewer fare-related questions mean shorter wait times at information desks and ticketing machines.

With GTFS Fares, agencies can provide riders with the information they need to confidently choose public transit, making travel more seamless for all.

Why Vendors Should Care

If you’re a vendor, you can stand out from the competition by offering GTFS Fares implementation. Supporting this specification can help you:

• Broaden Your Offerings: Accommodate diverse fare structures and meet the unique needs of transit agencies.
• Boost Competitiveness: Provide accurate fare models for trip planners, making your services more valuable to agencies.
• Drive Growth: Stay ahead by adopting GTFS Fares early, positioning yourself as a leader in transit data solutions.

By integrating GTFS Fares, vendors can enhance their services, attract more clients, and play a key role in improving transit accessibility.

Start Implementing GTFS Fares Today

It’s clear that GTFS Fares plays a crucial role in making public transit a more viable choice for riders. If you’re ready to improve the experience for both current and future riders, we’re here to help!

Visit GTFS.org to:

• Dive deeper into Fares Features
• Consult GTFS Fares Examples

This Is Just the Beginning. Join the Innovators Shaping Fares Technology

GTFS Fares didn’t emerge overnight; it was created by a global community of open-source innovators. MobilityData facilitates the working group dedicated to advancing Fares, and there are still plenty of opportunities to continue innovating and improving the standard.

To date, 31 organizations from around the world have contributed to GTFS Fares, including: 

• Transit agencies
• Government officials
• Trip planners
• Technology vendors
• Advocacy groups

Join us as we do the work to create better transportation through data! If you’re not already part of our Slack network, you can join here. Already part of our Slack community? Jump right into the conversation by clicking here.