Exit fare

An exit fare is a method of collecting ridership fees, or fare, from a transportation system where the fee (or part of the fee) is collected from passengers upon reaching their destination.

Exit fares were used on the subway lines of the early MBTA in Boston as a cost-cutting method to be able to collect increased fares without having to upgrade fare collection equipment at station entrances. The perceived unfairness of this system (what do you do with a passenger if they can't pay the exit fare?) prompted Boston politician Walter A. O'Brien to create the protest song Charlie on the M.T.A..

Exit fares are still used in Boston as a method of collecting flexible fares based on length of transit.