A fare is the fee paid by a traveler allowing him or her to make use of a public transport system: rail, bus, taxi, etc. In the case of air transport, the term airfare is often used. Uses The fare paid is a contribution to the operational costs of the transport system involved, either partial (as is frequently the case with publicly supported systems) or total. Many bus and rail systems in the United States recover only around one-third of their operational costs from fares (the farebox recover… (More on Airfare)