The Best Credit Cards for Tolls & Mass Transit Expenses

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I grew up in New Jersey, so I kind of didn’t know for a long time that it was possible to drive any distance on a highway without paying a toll. My mind was blown when we drove to Florida and went through state after state with no toll booths.

So when we moved to Central Florida, we were back in a land where if you wanted to get from point A to point B without sitting in a massive traffic jam, you needed to take a toll road. Progress.

Fortunately, when we moved, you no longer had to throw coins into a basket or give your money to a toll booth operator. We’ve had a Sunpass or E-Pass transponder on our cars for the entire time we’ve lived here. At first, it allowed us to go through a designated lane, but they’ve upgraded technology since then, and now we drive through the toll scanners at full speed.

We automatically reload our pass with a credit card when the balance falls below a certain level. However, the pass’s funds can deplete quickly during road trips to Key West or Georgia.

Cards with toll roads as a bonus category

A quick search found that articles mentioned the same cards as the best ones for toll charges.

• AMEX Blue Cash Preferred – 3% Cash Back
• Bank of America Premium Awards – 2 points per dollar.
• Wells Fargo Autograph – 3 points per dollar

In addition, I saw cards we have that offer bonuses for toll charges.

• Citi Custom Cash – 5 points per dollar Back (on up to $500 of purchases in whatever category you spend the most that statement cycle)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve – 3 Ultimate Rewards per dollar
• Chase Sapphire Preferred – 2 Ultimate Rewards per dollar
• Chase Ink Business Preferred – 3 Ultimate Rewards per dollar

The Citi Custom Cash has “Select Transit’ as one of the 5X categories.

Includes car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicle rentals. Also includes merchants that sell electricity for charging an electric vehicle. Excludes bike/scooter rentals, auto clubs and insurance companies.

Chase considers toll roads to be under the “Travel” category.

Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.

I was ready to move our tolls to the Sapphire Reserve, but then I remembered another card that earned a good return on a broad range of travel expenses, including tolls. It’s the same card we use to pay for our Airbnb rentals.

American Express Green Card

Once again, I’m forced to admit that the AMEX Green Card is a great travel card. Without the great travel coverage we get from the Sapphire Reserve, I’d put all of our travel spending on the Green Card.

The choice is to earn 3x Ultimate Rewards or 3x Membership Rewards for our toll expenses.

I’m going for Membership Rewards because of our travel habits. We tend to use Membership Rewards more than Chase points. We’ve transferred AMEX points to the following programs:

• Delta
• ANA Mileage Club
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• JetBlue
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Virgin Atlantic

We also earn more AMEX points because the Blue Business Plus card earns 2x points on all charges, and the AMEX Gold Card earns 4x points on dining expenses.

If you’re looking for a card for your generic travel expenses (tolls, taxis, train tickets, subways, and ferries), don’t forget the AMEX Green Card may be one of your best options.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary