Most urban public transport systems in the west can be quite expensive for a visitor. London is outrageous, but so are cities like Venice, and even Paris. By giving a fellow traveler your public transport tickets when you're done with them, you can help someone save a bundle. And a good deed like this comes back like good karma. Next time, you're likely the happy recipient of a bit of free travel!
How to help out
If you're in London, you've probably bought either a day travel card or an Oyster pass. With the day travel cards, once you've paid £5.20 for a day's travel and you're done, pass it on to a fellow traveler. These cards are valid to 4am the following day and if you're headed back to your hotel early, there's probably another traveler that could use a free trip home on the bus. More information about saving money on London transportation.
One of the cheaper ways to get around Paris is to buy a carnet of 10 Metro tickets at a go. This means you're often left with a few at the end of the trip, and those can be passed on to a fellow traveler. More about Paris Metro tickets.
Another fantastic, and fantastically expensive, destination is Venice in Italy. Here, a single trip on a Vaporetto is 5 Euros and a 24 hour Venice Card costs 12 Euros. Go here for more Venice Card prices and benefits. Quite often, you'll end up leaving before your card has expired, and you'll always find another traveler at the bus terminal or train station in Venice to hand it over to.
In Germany, some train passes cover the fare of up to 5 people traveling the same direction for much less than the normal fare. Instead of just giving tickets away when done, ask around and see if anyone else is going the same way, and share the savings.
And of course, often train tickets are cheaper as return tickets than singles. So if you're not returning on your ticket, find someone to give it to. A good place to advertise can be on Craig's List or Gumtree.
Share your other tips for helping out budget travelers in the comments below
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