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12/5/2024
San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) will increase fares 5.5% starting Jan. 1, 2025.
The fare increase is necessary to keep pace with inflation, although BART officials acknowledged in a press release that a new operations funding formula will need to be identified in the future.
The average fare will rise 25 cents to $4.72, an amount that is expected to raise $14 million in revenue for operations in the calendar year 2025. Combined with BART’s 2024 calendar-year fare increase, the transit agency will have over $30 million more in revenue from two years prior to spend on train service, police and safety staff, enhanced cleaning and capital projects. Although the increase takes effect on Jan. 1, BART's fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30.
However, BART currently still operates under an “outdated” funding model from 2004 that relies on passenger fares to pay for operations, which the transit agency intends to replace with a more sustainable funding model that aligns with models used by other U.S. transit systems, BART officials said.
Even with the fare increase, BART is facing a $35 million operating deficit in fiscal-year 2026 and $385 million in FY27. Decreased ridership has caused passenger fare income to fall short of covering operational expenses, agency officials said.