Remember that both Muni and BART fares will be going up starting July 1.
As of this Wednesday a trip on Muni will become $2.00 ($0.75 for senior, disabled and youth riders) and exact change is required to pay as you board vehicles so be sure you have extra quarters or dollar bills. Monthly Fast Pass prices are also going up, but work out to be a better value for those who ride Muni more than 10 days per month.
• Muni fare increase information
• Fast Pass sales information and locations
• BART fare increase information
Cable Car fares won’t go up further and do not require any additional fare for monthly Fast Pass holders.
Comments: 4
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IT’S ABOUT TIME!! Maybe the extra revenue, if any, could be used for other projects, like the E line, for example!!
Down here in San Diego, fares are up to $2.50 per ride!!
Fares went up to partially offset a $129 million deficit, not to build up savings which could be reinvested new Muni projects or services.
Its still a ridiclious ammount to pay to ride public transit. Its amazing that a few years ago the Mayor was talking about making Muni Free. How much do we pay for Proof of Payment inspectors and SFPD? Why don’t they contract to SFSD like San Mateo and Santa Clara county’s have done and have Deputys with arrest authroity patrol the Muni? Makes a lot more sense and increases safety.
The higher Muni fares are not out of line with other transit systems. $2.00 is the going rate for both AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit (more for the lines to SF) with SamTrans and VTA not fare behind at $1.75. Muni’s discounted and monthly fares are still lower than a lot of systems.
A study looked at making Muni free and it wouldn’t work. As of January 2008, fare collection cost $8.4 million annual and the $1.50 fare brought in $112 million a year. It just couldn’t be done anyway because there are not enough vehicles to meet increased demand and the subway is already at capacity.
Personally, I don’t think transit should be free. Aside from circulator and shuttle type of services (like the Golden Gate Park shuttle) I believe there should be some kind of cost (heavily subsidized and I’d be happy to see Muni go back to $1.00) associated with using transit to keep it from being taken for granted. As Thomas Paine wrote, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” and it seems to me like parking has been so heavily subsidized for so long some see it as a gods-given right while our transit systems fall apart.