The proposal from SFMTA staff to consider a fare increase of either 50% or 300% for the F-line historic streetcar service is predictably being met with strong opposition.
On his Facebook page, Supervisor Scott Weiner writes, “Muni is also considering raising the F line fare to $6, even though a lot of residents rely on this line and particularly so as an alternative when the subway melts down…tripling the fare on a line used by residents would show an agency out of touch with how problematic service is.”
Sup. Weiner, who is widely respected for his thoughtful pro-transit views, represents the Upper Market and Castro areas, whose residents would be among the hardest hit by this proposal. Comments on Sup. Weiner’s Facebook post included these:
Patrick Connors: “The F is the ONLY above ground line running all the way between Van Ness and Castro Street. How can they charge $6 for a ride to Safeway/Whole Foods? Lugging groceries to the F is bad enough, but having to go underground to avoid $6 fare is just mean.”
Jeff Cluett: “…charging $6 for the F – which I had to use the one time I took the MUNI subway in the last month because of a breakdown – is unfair and self-defeating.”
Jason Hill: “Please fight hard against raising the F fare. There are times where that line is the most practical one (avoiding rush hour crush in the Metro, lugging heavy/bulky purchases home, etc) and other times where it is worth going a tad slower in order to take the scenic route. Don’t let them rob us of one of the rare pleasures of transit.”
Patrick Lewis: “Thank you for being the voice of reason! The F line is crucial transit infrastructure, not a tourist attraction like the cable cars.”
Sheila Sullivan: “The F Car replaced the 8 Market bus that ran to the Ferry Building. Is Muni bringing back the 8 Market? Providing no alternative but a $6.00 fare down Market Street doesn’t lend itself to our so-called “Transit First” City. If San Francisco truly wants to be Transit First, they need to provide the infrastructure.”
Maurice Rivers: “MUNI = More Unethical Nutty Ideas.”
At this writing, no one has offered a comment on Weiner’s post supporting an F-line fare increase.
Neither has anyone offered positive comments about this on other Facebook posts we’ve seen, nor in comments we’ve received here in response to our first post on this discriminatory fare increase proposal two days ago.
Waterfront worker Paul Wells: “Having an office one block from The Embarcadero at Green Street, it is a preferable connection. As a San Franciscan, I am far from alone in utilization of the F-line as a way to get to and from work. It services the Market Street corridor as an alternative to the Market Street Subway…Any tiered fare will only cause delay and confusion, removing the speed that these cars were designed to achieve, and their demonstration of their value as public transportation. They are important to the revitalization of Mid-Market as well as convenient, down-on-the-corner, transportation for the thousands of residents of new housing being built along the length of Market Street…The potential is very high that tourists would cease to use the F line as well as locals, causing a possible reverse effect on revenue. Find other sources that will not impact what is working.”
Mark Sylvester provides a visitor’s perspective: “This idea to raise the F-line fare to $6 is a very bad idea. Your example of $50 for a family of four to get to the Exploratorium [or the Wharf] is crazy. The family would pay $90 for [Exploratorium] admission to begin with – the cost to get there would be another $50. There’s a problem when transportation costs more then half of the admission price! Parking rates on the Exploratorium website are only $10. $40 buys a lot of gas, you keep the kids in the car, and you don’t need to worry about leaving anything behind. As a visitor, those are the numbers I’m going to look at. I’m not going to shell out $40 extra just for a trolley ride.”
We’ve received many more comments like this already, every one of them opposed to the increase. If you’d like to comment, send it to MTABoard@sfmta.com, so it goes directly to the members of the SFMTA Board of Directors, who are taking public input now.
We’ll keep you up to date on this important issue.
