This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Kids & Family

Transit Fares Going Up Sunday

Caltrain's single-day tickets will be 25 cents more for one-way and 50 cents more for day passes, starting July 1. Other transit agencies are nudging fares upwards, too.

 

Caltrain will increase the price of printed tickets on July 1 in an effort to encourage rides to purchase reloadable Clipper Cards.

According to a Caltrain news release, the price increases by 25 cents for one-way passes and 50 cents for day passes. Clipper Card prices will stay the same. Clipper is an all-in-one smart fare card that allows the rider to ride virtually any transit system in the Bay Area.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, the discount for eight-ride tickets will be reduced from 15 percent off the one-way fare to 7.5 percent. The validity period of the tickets will also be cut in half, to 30 days.

A number of Bay Area transit agencies are preparing to increase fares starting Sunday.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In San Francisco, adult fast passes will increase $2 to $74 a month, and Muni-only passes will be $64. Passes for youth, seniors and disabled riders will also increase by $1, to $22. BART fares will increase 1.4 percent, or about 5 cents for the average fare, according to BART officials. Golden Gate Transit bus and ferry fares will increase by 5 percent.

For users of Clipper transit cards, the amount deducted for passes
and tickets will be adjusted automatically. The change occurs at the same time that .

If Caltrain does not see a noticeable increase in Clipper Card purchases and a decrease in printed ticket purchases, the agency said a similar price increase will likely occur in July 2013.

Some Caltrain riders are doubtful that the increased prices will encourage riders to purchase Clipper Cards. Gerrit Gerritsen, who says he rides Caltrain “a fair amount” says he will continue purchasing paper tickets even with the increased prices.

“I personally would not buy a Clipper Card as I don't use the Caltrain nearly enough to really need a card,” he said. “But, I'm sure some other people would, as it seems to me like most people want to be frugal when it comes to public transportation.”

Clipper cards can be ordered online or at retail locations. For more information about the Clipper cards, visit the Clipper card website

Los Altos Patch Editor L.A. Chung contributed to this report

Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Get our daily newsletterBlog for us

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?