Comparison of railroad commuter train fares

Every year, New Jersey Association of Rail Passengers does a price comparison of various trip lengths and the cost of fares and monthly passes.

Image from Rarer Borealis blog.

It shows that the prices for NJ Transit generally are much higher than other high-use systems ("NJ Transit commuters pay the highest fares in the country, analysis finds," Newark Star-Ledger).

Washington-area railroad fares.  For longer distances, MARC--the Maryland Railroad Commuter line--is about the cheapest of the major rail lines.

For shorter distances, "intra-suburb," the Metro North service within Connecticut is significantly cheaper than any other service. The MARC shorter distances fares are cheaper than some routes-systems and more expensive than others.

The Virginia Railway Express service wasn't included in the comparisons, but it ranks in the middle--more than MARC, less than NJTransit, comparable to MBTA in Boston.

7-day service shapes higher pricing.  Note that most of the systems have 7-day/week service, which increases pricing compared to the DC-area services.  VRE doesn't run on weekends, and MARC's weekend service on the Penn Line has been running only since December 2013.