Дневной пропуск дорогой, а почасовой тариф низкий.

In Russian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So:

• Дневной пропуск дорогой = The day pass is expensive
• Почасовой тариф низкий = The hourly rate is low

Russian speakers understand the present-tense is automatically from the sentence structure.

If you wanted the past or future, a form of to be would appear more explicitly:

• Дневной пропуск был дорогим. = The day pass was expensive.
• Дневной пропуск будет дорогим. = The day pass will be expensive.

Both а and но can often be translated as but, but they are not always used in the same way.

In this sentence, а is very natural because it sets up a contrast between two parallel facts:

• Дневной пропуск дорогой, а почасовой тариф низкий.

This feels like:

• The day pass is expensive, whereas the hourly rate is low.

By contrast, но often sounds more like a stronger contradiction or unexpected obstacle:

• Он хотел прийти, но не смог. = He wanted to come, but he couldn’t.

So here а is preferred because the sentence compares two pricing options side by side.

Because they agree with the nouns they describe.

In Russian, adjectives must match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• пропуск is masculine singular
• тариф is masculine singular

So the adjectives are also masculine singular nominative:

• дневной пропуск
• дорогой
• почасовой тариф
• низкий

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too:

• дневная карта дорогая = the day card is expensive
  (карта is feminine)
• дневные билеты дорогие = day tickets are expensive
  (plural)

Both пропуск and тариф are in the nominative case.

That is because they are the grammatical subjects of the sentence:

• Дневной пропуск — expensive
• Почасовой тариф — low

In simple present-tense Russian sentences like this, the subject is usually in the nominative, and the predicate adjective often also appears in a nominative-style form.

Дневной literally means daytime or for a day / day-based, depending on context.

In дневной пропуск, it means something like:

• day pass
• daily pass
• pass valid for the day

It does not usually mean everyday in the sense of recurring daily. For that idea, Russian often uses words like:

• ежедневный = daily / every day

So:

• дневной пропуск = a pass for one day or daytime use
• ежедневный пропуск would suggest something more like a pass used every day, which is a different idea

Почасовой means hourly or charged by the hour.

It is built from:

• по = by / per
• час = hour

So почасовой тариф is literally:

• a by-the-hour rate
• an hourly tariff/rate

This is a very common Russian way to describe pricing:

• почасовая оплата = hourly pay
• почасовая аренда = hourly rental

Because тариф and цена are close in meaning, but not identical.

• цена = price
• тариф = rate / tariff / pricing schedule

In this sentence, почасовой тариф sounds natural because it refers to a rate system based on time.

Compare:

• почасовая цена = possible, but less standard
• почасовой тариф = very natural for fees, transport, parking, services, internet plans, etc.

So тариф emphasizes the structured rate, not just a one-time price tag.

Here пропуск means pass, permit, or entry pass.

Depending on context, пропуск can refer to:

• a pass that allows entry somewhere
• an access permit
• a pass for a facility, event, or transport system

It can also have other meanings in different contexts, so learners sometimes get confused. For example, from the verb пропустить, related words can involve ideas like letting through or missing/skipping, but in this sentence пропуск clearly means a kind of pass.

So дневной пропуск is a day pass.

Yes, Russian word order is more flexible than English word order, but the original version is the most neutral and natural here:

• Дневной пропуск дорогой, а почасовой тариф низкий.

You could rearrange it for emphasis, for example:

• Дорогой дневной пропуск, а почасовой тариф низкий.
• Почасовой тариф низкий, а дневной пропуск дорогой.

These versions are understandable, but they shift the emphasis a little.

For learners, the best default is to keep the straightforward pattern:

• [noun phrase] + [adjective]

Because а connects two clauses, and Russian normally puts a comma before coordinating conjunctions like а in this kind of sentence.

So the structure is:

• Дневной пропуск дорогой, а почасовой тариф низкий.

This is standard Russian punctuation.

You will very often see a comma before:

• а
• но
• и (in some cases, especially when joining full clauses)

A helpful stress guide is:

• днеВНо́й
• проПУск
• дороГО́й
• а
• почасоВО́й
• таРИФ
• НИзкий

So the whole sentence is pronounced approximately as:

• dnyev-NOY PRO-pusk da-ra-GOY, a pa-cha-sa-VOY ta-REEF NEES-kee

A few notes:

• г in дорогой is a hard g
• о in unstressed syllables is reduced in normal speech
• й at the end of дорогой / дневной / почасовой gives a y sound

Yes, it is the same basic word, but the meaning depends on context.

Дорогой can mean:

• expensive
• dear / beloved

Examples:

• Это дорогой билет. = This is an expensive ticket.
• Дорогой друг = dear friend

In your sentence, because it describes a pass and compares prices, дорогой clearly means expensive.

Yes. Russian can express this idea in more than one natural way.

Your sentence uses adjectives:

• Дневной пропуск дорогой, а почасовой тариф низкий.

But Russian could also say:

• Дневной пропуск стоит дорого, а почасовая оплата стоит недорого.

That version means something like:

• The day pass costs a lot, while the hourly payment is inexpensive.

The original sentence is slightly more compact and descriptive. It sounds like a general comparison of two pricing options.