The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) approved a 25 cent increase in Muni cash fares at their budget meeting Tuesday. Fares on Clipper cards will remain the same. This change will take effect in September—along with others throughout the year including eliminating metered parking on Sundays and expanding the free Muni for Youth program- will go into effect once approved by the Board of Supervisors. The SFMTA budget also includes an increase in service, but the San Francisco Examiner reports that most of the discussion at the meeting was about the elimination of paying for metered parking on Sundays.
Reiskin said he was surprised little public comment surrounded the 3 percent service increase in the first fiscal year and possible 7 percent increase the following year.
“No one mentioned it today,” Reiskin said. “But we’re excited about it. It’s a big deal.”
Monthly Muni passes paid in cash will also go up from $66 to $68.
Edit: It was earlier reported that all Muni fares will go up. Only cash fares will rise, Clipper fares will stay the same.
Thanks for covering the MTA budget.
Ed Reiskin and the Examiner were not referring to the cash fare increase, but about adding three percent of service in the first year and hopefully 7 percent of service the next year. This is a reference to putting more and more reliable train and bus service on the street. This is what Ed Reiskin was calling a “big deal” and what he was referring to when he said the agency is “excited about it”. Not the fare increase.
The .25 cent increase will take effect in September and is only for cash fares. Fares stay the same on Clipper. The increase is part of an inflation formula, called the Consumer Price Index, that was approved by the board in 2009 to make any needed fare increases on on a low and slow incremental basis, rather than large increases at one time.
Free Muni for Youth is continuous.
Free muni for youth for 18 year olds should start in November after an administrative change by Clipper card.
Eliminating Sunday meters then raising fares doesn’t make sense. Remember the movement to make SF more walker/bike friendly? Ridiculous.
The fare increase would only affect you if you pay in cash; the clipper fare would still be $2. This should help encourage more people to board using clipper, which could significantly speed up some routes.