BART said Tuesday that rail fares will increase 5.5% on Jan. 1.
BART said in a statement that the increase will be intended “to keep pace with inflation so that the agency is able to pay for continued operations and work to restore financial stability.”
BART said its current financing model relies on passenger fares to pay for operations.
The increase is linked to inflation, minus half a percentage point. It is the second such increase; the first took effect on January 1, 2024.
The average rate will increase by 25 cents, from $4.47 to $4.72.
“We understand that fare increases are never welcome, but BART fares remain a vital source of funding even when ridership is lower than before the pandemic,” Mark Foley, vice chairman of the BART board, said in a statement. “My colleagues on the board and I voted in June 2023 to spread the necessary rate increases over two years rather than catch up all at once. At the same time, we voted to increase the Clipper START-based discount from 20 percent to 50 percent to help those most in need.”
The rate increase is expected to generate approximately $14 million per year for operations. Combined with last year’s fare adjustment, BART will use this $30 million per year to fund rail service, enhanced cleaning, additional police presence and unarmed security personnel, and capital projects.
BART said the regional Clipper START program is an important resource for low-income riders of BART and other transit systems in the Bay Area. The program is intended for adult riders with a household income of 200% of the federal poverty level or less. Participants in the program, administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will receive a personalized Clipper card that can cut fares in half on more than two dozen transit systems.
Under the program, riders with limited incomes receive a 50% discount with Clipper START.
People from 5 to 18 years old get a 50% discount with a Clipper youth card. Seniors aged 65 and over receive a 62.5% discount with a Senior Clipper card. The RTC Clipper card was created for passengers under the age of 65 with a qualifying disability and offers a 62.5% discount.
BART said the fare increase is the latest adjustment in a strategy to provide BART funding while providing predictable, scaled changes in the cost of riding to riders.
In 2004, BART first implemented this inflation-based fare increase program, calling for small, regular increases every two years that are lower than inflation, allowing fares to keep pace with the cost of providing reliable and safe services.
BART said that even with the fare increase, the agency faces an operating deficit of $35 million in fiscal year 2026 and $385 million in fiscal year 2027. Since BART’s model to pay most operating costs relies on passenger fares, it no longer feasible due to the increase in remote work, the agency said it must modernize its funding sources to better align with other transportation systems across the country that require larger amounts of public funding received.
