Quote:
Originally Posted by Okstate
I don't know if this is apples to apples but Portland's TriMet charges around $100 for a monthly pass.
|
I have no experience of that system so I can't compare them directly either, but SF has an official "transit first policy" and does everything it can to discourage car use, mainly by narrowing streets to create bicycle lanes and forcing a lot of new construction not to have parking.
This effectively means that if transit itself isn't convenient, ubiquitous and CHEAP, the quality of life is degraded. As I said, at under $50 a month, I bought a monthly pass just for the convenience (no fishing for exact fare, the ability to hop on a bus even for fairly short trips, being able to use cable cars which have ridiculous single-trip fares) and many months probably didn't ride enough to make it a bargain since I live downtown in a 100% walk-score neighborhood.
I can't and won't buy a pass at over $50 and wouldn't even consider it at $100. Hence, Muni is losing money on me (because I don't actually ride $50 worth--figuring a trip downtown and back 4 days a week at $2 a ride, it's more like $30 or $40 worth). And I don't think I'm that unique.
Right now, the cheapest way for me to go would be tokens which give you a small discount and allow you to pay only for the rides you take.