California commission announces fare increases, policy changes

The New Year will bring a series of transit fare increases as well as other changes for customers of the California Bay Area's Clipper transit fare card, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced Tuesday.

Effective yesterday, Bay Area Rapid Transit fares increased 5.2 percent across all routes, while the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency raised the price of its Muni one-day, three-day and seven-day passes. New prices will be posted on clippercard.com, MTC officials said in a press release.

Meanwhile, the San Mateo County Transit bus and commuter-rail service extended the deadline by an extra week for purchasing monthly passes, while the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District eliminated the need for a photo identification card to purchase a Youth Clipper card.