The Bay Area has 27 transit agencies with different fare structures - so using transit can be confusing, expensive, and sometimes unfair.
What if there were one simple map to figure out how much you pay — no matter what type of transit you take, how times you transfer, or how many different transit agencies you used?
Seamless Bay Area’s Integrated Transit Fare Vision Map is a representation of what a more equitable, affordable, rider-focused transit fare system could look like.
With a common set of fare zones that cover the whole Bay Area, figuring out how much to pay with the Fare Vision Map would be as simple as 1-2-3:
It wouldn’t matter which route you take - or whether you take a bus, train, or ferry - or all three - the price would be the same, based on fewest number of zones it takes to travel between your origin and destination.
Go more places with a single local transit fare and free transfers
Most trips taken on transit today are short trips under 6 miles. Low income riders are more likely to take short trips than long trips, pay using cash, transfer between agencies, and pay single fares instead of purchasing passes. With the Integrated Fare Vision’s local fare of $2.20 for travel within 1-2 fare zones, local transit would be about the same price, or even a bit cheaper than present in most parts of the Bay Area.
Always choose the fastest route - the price will be the same
Riders shouldn’t have to choose between the bus and the train because of price. With the Integrated Fare Vision, local riders would get access to faster service and unlimited transfers for their local fare. For example if the fastest way of taking a local trip is to go 2 stops on BART, then transfer to a local bus - the price of that trip would be the same as taking the bus the whole way.
Examples of short trips where the fastest route requires multiple agencies:
Access jobs, housing, and educational opportunities across the Bay Area more affordably
The Bay Area has a lot to offer, but too many people lack the freedom to get around due to lack of access to affordable transportation. The Integrated Fare Vision’s zoned-based system would give more people affordable access to opportunities across the region, more cheaply than driving, because it doesn’t charge riders extra for transferring.
Examples of regional trips that become far more affordable with the Integrated Fare Vision:
Discounts apply no matter what agency you use - and kids twelve years and under ride free
Rather than have to navigate 27 different agencies’ discount policies and eligibility criteria, the following groups of riders would receive a standard 50% discount on all fares:
Seniors (65+)
Youth (13-18)
Students
Persons with Disabilities
Low-Income Households (per eligibility for Clipper START)
Kids aged 12 and under would ride for free, making transit an easier choice for families.
Implementing the Integrated Fare Vision wouldn’t prevent a city, county, university, employer, social service agency, developer, or other entity from offering even deeper discounts to certain groups of riders. For instance, San Francisco could easily continue to provide its successful free transit program for low-income youth who live in San Francisco (“Free Muni for Youth”) by loading cash value on Clipper Cards.
Never pay too much with automatic fare capping
Instead of monthly or daily passes you have to buy before you travel, which many low income aren’t able to use due to the high upfront cost, the Integrated Fare Vision proposes daily, weekly, and monthly fare caps available to all riders, so that anyone who reaches the cap will enjoy the rest of the transit rides they take during that time period for free.
Try It Out Now:
Use our Fare Zone Calculator
We created a fare calculator tool so you can compare how much transit would cost under the Fare Vision Map system, versus what you’d pay currently.
What would it take to achieve this vision?
The Integrated Fare Vision is just one concept of what fare integration could look like. By creating this vision and map, Seamless Bay Area wishes to demonstrate the impact integrated transit fares have on riders and the region. A full analysis of fare integration options, including detailed ridership and cost estimates, is underway through the Fare Integration and Coordination Study.
Nevertheless, if the Bay Area wants to achieve anything along the lines of this Integrated Fare Vision, two essential things are needed - new funding for integration and institutional reform.
New Funding for Integration
Over the long term, the experience of other regions suggests that fare integration would likely pay for itself by attracting more transit use. Ridership gains in other regions that have integrated fares have ranged from 4% to 33%. As part of Plan Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) projected that an integrated fare structure consisting of “a flat local fare with free transfers across operators and a distance or zone-based fare for regional trips” would be revenue-neutral over the long term due to “incentivized growth in transit trips.”
While regional fare integration may ultimately generate more revenue, the region’s transit agencies would need new operating funds to transition to the new system and maintain service levels. New operating funding would also be needed to provide the low-income means-based 50% discount to all riders across the region -- a cost that MTC estimates to be approximately $10 billion over 30 years.
Our own financial analysis estimates that the Integrated Fare Vision would generate a similar amount of fare revenue as the pre-COVID system, but that the transit system would need additional operating funding sources to cover the deeper discounts proposed for low income people.
Centralized fare collection by a Network Manager
In addition to new funding, fully integrated transit fares would also require establishing a central regional authority with the ability to set fare policy, and collect and distribute fare revenue to transit operators across the 9-county region. While MTC runs Clipper, the region’s fare card, MTC has no control over setting fares, which is done separately by 27 transit agency boards. In order to realize the Integrated Fare Vision or a similar integrated fare system, the Bay Area must address its fragmented transit governance.
Other regions with zone-based fare systems similar to the Integrated Fare Vision have set up a lead transit “Network Manager” with the authority to set fare across the region and distribute revenues fairly to transit operators based on the service they provide (see diagram). In addition to overseeing fares, a network manager also aligns routes and schedules, and sets standards for branding, data, service, and customer information.
Governance reform to establish a network manager - which could be MTC, an existing operator, or something new - in the Bay Area is essential to our region’s ability to integrated not only fares, but also the service. Because such reform would affect the exiting authorities many public agencies, it would most effectively be accomplished through state legislation.
Want to make this vision a reality? Take action now.
If you think the Bay Area should create a coherent, equitable transit fare system like the Integrated Transit Fare Vision Map — speaking up is critical.
Two ongoing initiatives, the Fare Coordination and Integration Study and the current Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force, have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvent transit for the next generation.
You can make a difference by taking these three actions:
1. Spread the word.
Share the Fare Vision Map on Twitter, Facebook, or by email and tell your friends and family why you support integrated fares. And stay informed by getting on our mailing list.
2. Sign and share the petition supporting the Seamless Transit Principles.
Principle #4 of the Seamless Transit Principles petition is “Align transit prices to be simple, fair, and affordable”. Help Seamless Bay Area get over 2,000 names on this petition so we can show transit agencies end elected leaders how much riders support integrated transit fares.
3. Tell the board members of the transit agencies you use that you want to see a fully integrated transit fare system across the Bay Area.
Submitting letters and speaking up at transit agency board meetings is important to show elected officials and agency staff that fare integration is a priority for riders. Fill out this form and we’ll let you know the right moment to submit a letter or speak up at a public meeting (you can also share your feedback on the map using the form!)
4. Join us on November 10th at 1:00pm PST for a webinar about the Fare Integration Vision.
Join Seamless Bay Area for a webinar on November 10th to learn more about why fare integration is important, what’s going on in the Bay Area right now to advance it, how the Fare Integration Vision Map was developed, and actions you can take to make the integrated fares a reality. RSVP Here.