Riding MUNI Now More Expensive than New York Subway
Starting July 1st, MUNI is raising its single fare price to $3, and the monthly Adult A pass rises to $98. To put that into perspective, a subway ticket in New York City costs $2.75. In NYC, the trains run all night, get you practically anywhere you need to go via a connected underground system, and then there’s SF MUNI. Where it still takes longer to get to the Marina from the Mission (49 minutes to go less than 4 miles), than it does to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan (46 minutes). We’ll let you decide which is the better deal.
The upcoming fare increase is a part of the Automatic Fare Indexing Policy that started in 2009, which means that prices are determined by a formula based on monetary inflation and operations costs. According to the SFMTA, pre-paid fares (Clipper or Muni Mobile) is still $2.50, which is part of why Transit Justice Coalition members like SOMCAN, are concerned. This kind of price hike equates to a poverty tax. SF citizens who are paying in cash are commonly the people who don’t have Internet service or phones or credit cards. It’s also a bit of a tourist tax, because visitors to the city are also more likely not to own clipper cards, (although very few citizens are shedding too many tears for tourists).
The monthly M and A passes are also going up. Here are the main changes according to SFMTA:
Single Ride Fares | Current- | 7/1/19 |
Regular Adult: Cash (Clipper fare remains the same) | $2.75 | $3 |
Discount single ride*: Cash and Limited-Use Tickets | $1.35 | $1.50 |
Monthly Passes | Current- | 7/1/19 |
Monthly M pass (Muni only) | $78 | $81 |
Monthly A pass (Muni + BART within SF) | $94 | $98 |
Discount monthly* and Lifeline Pass | $39 | $40 |
Poppa’s got to pay for those new MUNI cars, and that incredibly over budget, deadline blowing Central Subway Line debacle.