Muni adds $5 all-day pass under new budget

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is adding a new Muni fare option as part of its $1.2 billion, two-year budget transit officials approved on Tuesday.

The SFMTA Board of Directors agreed to add an all-day Muni pass for $5 without rides on the cable car, but it will only be available for purchase on the transit agency’s MuniMobile app.

Transit officials said the new all-day Muni pass is for the occasional Muni rider who may not necessarily need to buy a monthly pass.

Directors also made changes to a number of Muni fare options in the two-year budget which goes into effect on July 1.

Tourists who come to The City will see a visible pricing change in the cost of a Visitor Passport if purchased through a Clipper card or through MuniMobile.

A one-day passport purchased through a Clipper card or MuniMobile currently costs $22. Next year, it will only cost $12. All prices for visitor passports purchased through those platforms will cost slightly less than those purchased at a sales kiosk or a third-party vendor.

Transit officials said this was a way to incentivize visitors to prepay.

Prices for visitor passports at a sales kiosk or third-party vendor will continue to follow the transit agency’s automatic fare index formula over the next two years.

Directors, though, did take a different direction on some Muni fares by not increasing them through the fare index formula.

Single-ride fares will remain at $2.50 over the next two years for passengers who pay with a Clipper card or MuniMobile. Under the formula, it would have risen to $2.75 in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Single-ride fares paid in cash on boarding will rise to $3.00 in that same fiscal year.

Directors also decided to stop indexing fares for the adult “A” monthly pass and instead place a 20 percent premium above the cost of the adult “M” monthly pass.

The cost of A pass will remain at $94 this year but will go up to $98 next year in July. If directors stuck to the its fare indexing policy the pass would cost $102 next year.

The M pass will get indexed this year from $75 to $78 in September and then to $81 in July next year.

Transit officials are preparing in this budget cycle to hire 277 new positions to help support the Central Subway when it opens in late 2019 and the arrival of additional new Muni trains which will increase service on all rail lines.

Currently, the SFMTA has 5,692 funded positions but that figure will jump to 5,969 positions by next year. All of the new hires are will come from the SFMTA’s transit division.

Before Mayor Ed Lee died, he sent a memo to department heads last year to not hire any new employees, but Reiskin said on Tuesday the resources are needed especially with a new subway coming online soon and the arrival of new Muni trains.

Additionally, operations and staffing for the new Islais Creek bus maintenance yard is also included in the two-year budget.

Reiskin said he did ask all divisions in the transit agency to make efficiencies during this budget process that reduced the budget by $17.3 million in the 2018-2019 fiscal year and $16.3 the following fiscal year.

The SFMTA budget now heads to the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.