Muni fares, parking fines set to climb as SFMTA tries to close budget gap

Muni fares will rise for the first time since 2019 as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency needs to close a budget gap of $12.7 million over the next two fiscal years.

Directors on the SFMTA board this week approved a two-year, $1.4 billion operating budget that includes reducing the Clipper card discount for single-ride fares in 2025 by 25 cents and resuming its policy of indexing fares in 2026.

The single-ride fare using Clipper will rise from $2.50 to $2.75 next year, and to $2.85 the following year. The agency for years had been offering a 50-cent discount to incentivize passengers to adopt Clipper to pay fares electronically. Single-ride cash fares will remain at $3 over the next two years.

As single-ride fares rise for Clipper users, so will Muni monthly passes. The adult ‘M’ Muni-only pass will rise from $81 to $85 next year, and to $86 the following year. Adult ‘A’ passes, which includes travel on BART within San Francisco, will jump from $98 to $102 next year and to $104 the following year.

The SFMTA will permanently add an all-day pass for the California Cable Car line that transit officials said was popular during an initial six-month pilot last year.  The agency’s Chief Financial Officer Bree Mawhorter said the pilot generated $77,000 in revenue during the pilot program.

Additionally, to help close the budget gap, parking fines will rise 8 percent each year in the two-year budget and taxi fees paused during the pandemic will be reinstated.

Muni fares have not increased since 2019, but at the start of budget discussions during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, directors pursued increasing fares. City supervisors urged the SFMTA not to raise fares, as residents and workers in the city struggled financially as businesses shuttered.

Directors and staff at previous board meetings this year have had robust discussions on the budget including whether the agency should get rid of its Clipper discount altogether, return to the agency’s previous automatic fare indexing policy, and how much to increase parking fines.

At one point in the budget discussions, there was talk of raising parking fines by 10 percent over the next two years.

Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin said at the board’s April 2 meeting that the agency is trying to get on the San Francisco ballot this November and is aiming for a regional ballot measure in November 2026. The regional ballot measure will require a two-thirds voter approval threshold to pass. Tumlin said:

“With this budget, what we’re trying to do is to build a citywide consensus in order to get a two-thirds vote.”

The SFMTA faces a larger projected budget deficit of $227.5 million deficit in the 2026-2027 year. The SFMTA and other Bay Area transit agencies are supporting a potential ballot measure in November 2026 to provide a sustainable funding source for transit operations. Senate Bill 1031, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener and Sen. Aisha Wahab, seeks to authorize the ballot measure.

To address fare evasion on Muni, the SFMTA will hire 35 new fare inspectors to restore staffing to 2019 levels to improve fare compliance.

Dylan Fabris, the community and policy director for the San Francisco Transit Riders organization, urged directors not to approve the budget with the fare increases, but instead increase the parking fines higher, adding:

“It shouldn’t be SFMTA’s policy to fill this deficit by placing a larger financial burden on its most transit-dependent riders than its worse real parking offenders.”

The budget now heads to the Mayor’s Office for submission and then to the Board of Supervisors for review and consideration for approval or rejection.