Wednesday, December 23, 2009

M is for Muni-only

My monthly commuter benefit arrived in the mail today, and with it was an extra special reminder that the cambios significantes to which we're all still adjusting will soon be joined by a new fare increase in just over a week.

Starting January 1st the adult 'A' Fast Pass we all know and love will cost $70.00 (a $15.00 increase) meaning you need to take the bus 35 times per month to make it worthwhile financially.

Seventy bucks too steep for you? Then you'll probably do what I do and opt for the newly minted 'M' Fast Pass pictured above. For the low low price of $60.00 you can enjoy all the benefits of a Fast Pass ... except you can't ride BART within the city. If you take BART less that about once a week this will be the pass for you, since you only need to ride Muni 30 times in a month to break even on its cost.

2 comments:

MB94128 said...

You might want to take a closer look at this SFMTA fare increase announcement page ( link to "January 2010 ... fares increase"). Punch #1, the top part, was bad enough for adults. Scroll down to the two-thirds mark for punch #2. That second punch looks kind of nasty for everybody else.

Pedestrianist said...

Thanks for pointing that out, MB94128. The increases in the disabled, youth and senior Fast Passes are lamentable.

Remember, though, that they were initially supposed to go into effect last July when the adult pass went to $65.00. The six-month delay in the increase was one of the concessions BOS President Chiu got out of the mayor's MTA.

It's very worth keeping that in mind as the MTS Board and the BOS prepares to deal with this year's 'surprise' deficit.