Seamless fares can help restore transit ridership
This week and next, transit agency boards will weigh in on important steps forward to bring riders back to transit with convenient, integrated fares.
BART’s weekday ridership has been running around 25%, and Caltrain’s ridership was running around 15% of pre-Covid as of August, the latest reported, while as many white collar jobs remain full-time remote due to the Delta variant spike. SFMTA ridership is still at 40%, SamTrans ridership is at 60% the pre-Covid.
As the pandemic eases and people adapt to new travel patterns, a new MTC study shows that fare integration can be a powerful strategy to restore transit ridership by making transit more convenient, attracting new riders and new trips.
The initial recommends of the study include:
* a pilot “go-anywhere” transit pass for employers, colleges/universities, housing developments and other types of organizations
* free or reduced price transfers
Free transfers and ridership increases
Making transfers free for riders could reduce driving as much as Caltrain electrification; and would add over 25,000 riders, a similar scale as flagship bus routes such as the Muni 22-Filmore and the AC Transit 51 lines; as BART’s Powell station or both downtown Oakland stations together. And Standardizing regional fares (BART, Caltrain, ferry, express bus) could add about 69,000 riders as many riders as a pre-Covid Caltrain.
For comparison, here is a chart with the pre-Covid ridership of BART’s top stations.
Go-anywhere transit passes, ridership and equity
The other near-term recommendation, which could start with a small pilot as soon as 2022, is for a “go-anywhere’ transit pass for institutions, such as colleges/universities, employers, and housing developments. Today, transit passes serve a single agency at a time, limiting the mobility of pass users and limiting the value of the passes.
Housing organizations such as Enterprise, Housing Leadership Council of San MateoCounty, Silicon Valley at Home, and East Bay Housing Organizations support “go anywhere” transit passes to provide mobility for affordable housing residents. Similarly, groups of students and youth and students at educational institutions from San Jose State University, UC Berkeley, Chabot College and Skyline College support integrated fares.
Speak up at Caltrain, SamTrans, AC Transit, BART boards over the coming 2 weeks:
Five major Bay Area transit agency boards will receive updates on the Fare Integration study and will get to weigh in on their level of support. You can help by writing an email to or making a public comment at the boards for the agencies you use regularly:
Please click here to sign up to make comment, and we will email or text you at the right time.
Oct. 6, 2pm SamTrans Agenda Item B4/B5. Zoom Link. Email: publiccomment@samtrans.com.
Oct. 7, 10:15am Caltrain Agenda Item 9. Zoom Link. Email: publiccomment@caltrain.com
Oct. 13, 5pm AC Transit Agenda 6B. Zoom Link. Email: myvoice@actransit.org
Oct. 14, 9am BART Agenda 6C, Log into Zoom.com and enter access code 825 1046 5255. Email: board.meeting@bart.gov
Guidance for Your Public Comment
Please urge the board to support integrated fares. A few helpful points to make in your public comment
State your name, where you live, what SamTrans routes (or Caltrain stations) you use, and what other transit agencies you use regularly.
Tell a personal story - share how more a more integrated fare system would make a difference in your life or people in your community (e.g. money savings, use transit more often, access to more opportunities, reduced congestion/pollution)
Urge the board to support the near term recommendations of the Fare Integration study:
A pilot “go-anywhere” transit pass for organizations that lets people go anywhere they can get to on a bus, train or ferry;
Free transfers starting in 2023.
Now is the time to take steps to make transit more convenient to bring riders back to transit to help recover from the impacts of Covid
Urge the agency to support working with the other transit agencies and MTC toward an even more integrated fare structure, including identifying the additional funding needed to support additional integration that can bring many more riders to transit.
Please see this page for additional suggestions for your 2-minute comment or letter to the boards..
