Standard pricing for all journeys

The objective of such a policy would be to ensure a degree of social equity whereby passengers paid the same fare irrespective of how far they might travel within an urban area. It was widespread practice in the command economies, where citizens had little choice in where they lived and where they worked or were educated. It is also common practice where passenger revenues cover a relatively small proportion of the cost of service provision, and fares act more as a system access charge.

One problem with universal fares is that provision must be made for continuing travel authority whenever a passenger needs to make an interchange (transfer) during the journey without that authority then being open to abuse in the making of subsequent journeys with no additional payment. That has been made much easier to control through electronic fare collection, which also provides for the equitable sharing of revenues between the affected operators.

Where there is a high level of cost recovery from fare-box revenues, universal fares become very expensive when only a short journey needs to be made. This can become deterrent to public transport usage under these circumstances, with alternative transport modes such as taxis or private cars (even with parking charges) becoming more attractive with consequent increases in traffic congestion.