These campuses contract with their local transit operators to allow their university identification cards to serve as public transit passes. University identification cards that serve as transit passes eliminate the inconvenience and expense of buying individual transit passes, and they encourage occasional transit use even by commuters who usually drive to campus. Students, staff, and faculty simply present their university identification to board the bus. For every commuter on every day, a bus ride to campus is free. These programs achieve a low cost per person because they are priced on the probability of transit ridership by a defined population with universal coverage.
Most universities finance the transit passes for students with special fees assessed on students.
Several universities have chosen to support the programs in part from campus parking receipts, parking citation revenue, or from general university revenues. Universities and their local operators tailor their transit programs to meet the specific transit needs of each campus. The transit operators can afford to improve service to the campus because there are many more riders. After the University of Colorado implemented its transit program for faculty, staff, and students, transit ridership to campus increased by 400 percent. University-sponsored transit programs reduce congestion, improve air quality, and by increasing the demand for mass transit they give the entire community more frequent transit service.