Token Transit

Token Transit replaces the fare machine, the exact change and the paper ticket with a phone you already carry. It works in more than a hundred and fifty cities across the United States and Canada, in partnership with local transit agencies rather than as an unofficial workaround. The process has three steps and no complications. Buy the fare type you want inside the app, whether that is a single ride, a day pass or a monthly one. Activate it when you are actually ready to travel, not when you bought it, which is the detail that makes buying in advance sensible: a pass purchased on Sunday for a Wednesday trip does not start counting down until you tap it. Then show the driver your activated ticket as you board. All your tickets live in the app, so there is no wallet full of paper transfers and no hunting for coins at a stop in the rain. It is particularly useful for visitors, who otherwise have to work out an unfamiliar fare system and find a machine that takes their payment method before they can travel. For residents, buying a monthly pass without visiting a transit office is the main saving. Check the agency list to confirm your city participates.