Bay Area’s transit agencies looking at fare cuts for low-income residents

Muni riders buy tickets at the Civic Center station on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif. Muni riders buy tickets at the Civic Center station on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle 2018 Buy photo Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle 2018 Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Bay Area’s transit agencies looking at fare cuts for low-income residents 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

In an effort to make public transportation fares more affordable to the Bay Area’s least affluent residents, four of the region’s largest transit agencies and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission are proposing a 20 percent discount to low-income riders.

If the plan is enacted, Muni, BART, Golden Gate Transit and Caltrain would offer the discounted fares to anyone with an annual income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level: $24,280 for a single person, $32,920 for a couple or $50,200 for a family of four. The proposal will be discussed Wednesday at an MTC committee hearing.

“As long as there is significant income inequality in this country, what we can do for people on the wrong side of that inequality is going to be a topic of discussion,” said Randy Rentschler, an MTC spokesman.

Steve Heminger, the commission’s executive director, wrote in a memo to Planning and Allocations Committee members, who will talk about the issue Wednesday, that the affordability of public transportation has increasingly become an issue in recent years.

The matter of making transit fares affordable for the Bay Area’s poorest residents has come up repeatedly in the past decade with proposals to fund free rides for low-income youth in San Francisco and to subsidize transit to schools in Oakland.

The MTC developed a plan tying transit fares to the incomes of the Bay Area’s poorest residents within the past year, with any losses in fare revenue to be covered primarily with funds it receives from the state.

The initial idea was to cut fares by 50 percent. While most of the region’s two dozen transit agencies expressed interest, many were afraid that they’d lose too much money. So the commission focused the plan on the six largest transit agencies and reduced the proposed discount to 20 percent. Still, AC Transit and SamTrans dropped out because of the financial risks, leaving only Muni, BART, Golden Gate Transit and Caltrain.

The discount would be available to those who use Clipper cards. The discount would cut the price of a BART ride from Oakland to San Francisco from $3.50 to $2.80 and reduce the cost of a Muni ride from $2.50 to $2.

By comparison, BART offers discounts of 50 percent for youths up to 18 and 62.5 percent for seniors older than 65. Muni gives seniors, youths and disabled persons a 50 percent discount. Muni also has a free-fare program for low-income youths and seniors.

MTC would reimburse transit agencies for up to $20.7 million. BART estimates the program would cost $10.6 million, Muni $8.6 million, Caltrain $900,000, Golden Gate Transit $400,000 and Golden Gate Ferry $200,000.

At this point, it’s not clear whether the program would be a limited test or permanent.

No decision will be made Wednesday, but the committee is expected to continue discussing the program with a goal of firming up a plan by May. Directors of each transit agency would need to approve their participation, which would likely take place during the summer. The tentative goal would be to start the discounts in summer 2019.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan