BOSTON (AP) – State transportation officials have been ordered to turn in the passes that allow them free rides on buses and trains, a privilege not offered to any other state employees.

State Transportation Secretary John Cogliano told the Boston Herald that the free-pass policy is unfair to commuters who pay as much as $200 a month for their commuter rail passes. He ordered officials to turn in their passes by Oct. 31.

The officials who had been taking advantage of the free rides work for the Executive Office of Transportation but not the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which operates the region’s mass transit system.

“The T is under financial constraints right now, but more important is that we as public servants should not be given special privileges,” he said. “We’re talking potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars the MBTA would not be collecting.”

Cogliano said he’s been buying his own monthly commuter rail pass since being appointed transportation secretary under Gov. Mitt Romney last summer.

Cogliano said it is particularly important to revoke the ID cards now because his office is gaining dozens of employees under legislation aimed at centralizing the state’s transportation bureaucracy.