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San Diego Metropolitan Transit System fares
Ever tap your transit pass and wince at the total? San Diego Metropolitan Transit System riders may soon pay more as officials weigh one-way fare increases while trying to avoid service reductions. The aim is to raise cash without shrinking routes. For many households, every quarter matters.
The adult single ride is $2.50 now. Two proposed options would raise it to $3.00 or $3.50, which some local reporting says could make it among the highest local flat fares in California. If approved, local reporting says it would be MTS’s first official fare increase since 2009.
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San Diego Metropolitan Transit System gap
Regional reporting has described MTS’s projected shortfall at roughly $500 million over four years, while MTS’s fare proposal fact sheet says the agency expects a budget gap of more than $120 million annually in the coming years.
The issue is less about empty buses and more about pandemic-era rescue dollars drying up. Those funds stabilized budgets when ridership plunged hard…