Why Are BART Fares Increasing?

Starting July 1, BART will increase fares by 1.4% — an average of five cents per trip. This fare increase is the last in a series of four inflation-based fare increases that started back in 2006.

The 1.4% value was calculated by taking the changes in both national and local inflation and then subtracting 0.5% to account for improvements in BART’s operating efficiencies.

Earlier this month, BART held several community meetings and conducted online research on the Board-approved fare increase program, which called for inflation-based fare increases in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. BART asked the public for their input on either implementing the 2012 fare increase or raising fares by some other amount. The public was also asked to provide their opinion regarding a proposal to continue using the current inflation-based formula from this year through the year 2020. The results of BART’s community outreach can be viewed here.

Muni Fares Are On the Rise, Too

Muni will also be raising its fares starting in July. The cost of the M-pass (Muni only) will go up by $2 making it $64 and the cost of the monthly Muni A pass will increase from $72 to $74. The SFMTA approved these increases two years ago based on inflation.

At Reset, we’re huge fans of Muni – and last year when we talked to San Franciscans, a majority of riders said that they wouldn’t mind a small fare increase if the service was faster and more reliable.

So many Bay Area BART riders are happy with the new BART seats – that perhaps if passengers are happy then perhaps very small, incremental fare increases will go either unnoticed or unchallenged. Stay tuned as we follow this story.