AC Transit bus fares are going up by 20%, the first hike since 2020

Update on Friday, March 14: The AC Transit Board of Directors did vote on Wednesday evening to approve the rise of fares this summer. The new price for cash fares will be $2.75 starting July 1 with an expected additional raise to $3 on July 1, 2026.

Original story:

The price of an East Bay bus ride could go up twice this year, but local transit advocates are urging the AC Transit board not to increase fares again.

According to a report written by AC Transit interim General Manager Kathleen Kelly, the district wants to increase its revenue by nearly $8 million a year by raising fares. This would “partially reduce” the agency’s projected 2025-26 deficit of $45 million.

“The recommendation is made in response to the dire financial situation that the District is facing next year and in the future, which is worse than previously expected,” Kelly wrote in the report. 

AC Transit’s revenues are down and the bus operator has used a lot of its reserves to pay bills in the past few years, according to agency reports.

If AC Transit’s board approves the fare increases, prices for local bus rides for people who pay with cash will go up to $2.75 on July 1 this year and $3 on July 1, 2026. Transbay service rates will go up as well. Fares for people who use Clipper cards are slightly cheaper but will also go up.

The last time fares went up for local service was July 1, 2019. Fares for Transbay service last went up in 2020. 

In 2018, the board approved a slow-building rate increase that would have been apportioned on a five-year schedule but the plan was shelved during the pandemic to minimize financial hardship on riders. 

Transit advocates have opposed five previous attempts in the last few years to increase bus fares. They said they would do so again. 

In an email to supporters yesterday, the Transbay Coalition, comprised of groups such as Bike East Bay and the East Bay Transit Riders Union, said increasing fares would hurt everyone who takes the bus, especially low-income people. 

“AC Transit rider’s median yearly household income is under $36,500, and 42% lack access to a vehicle,” said Transbay Coalition spokesperson Carter Lavin. “It’s unjust to ask these riders to pay more for bus service when their incomes are already stretched thin by inflation and the high cost of living in the East Bay.”

The coalition is rallying its supporters and other AC Transit riders, asking the board to postpone the rate increase which will be considered at the district’s board meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m. 

Lavin acknowledged the need to raise funds to keep the district solvent but said riders shouldn’t bear the brunt of that responsibility. He said the service could “find other ways” to save money such as renegotiating its $4 million-plus contract with the San Francisco Transbay Terminal. 

AC Transit’s Kelly and staff appeared to anticipate the pushback from advocates by noting in their report that the agency has a pilot, Clipper START, that provides discounts for eligible riders, and that other discounts for seniors and young adults would still apply, even if they would be a little more expensive than they are now. For example, a Senior/Disabled/Youth Clipper fare ​​that is now $1.12 per ride would go up to $1.37 by July 2026 if the board approves the fare increases. 

AC Transit staff say that other agencies like BART and Muni have increased their fares this year by 25 cents. 

In the Transbay Coalition email, Lavin asked that the board postpone any increases, at least until AC Transit’s fare system fully transitions its technology later this year to the free or discounted fare transfer program that has already been board-approved. Currently, AC Transit said that full transition is “pending.”

“This will also help get more low-income riders on Clipper START since there will be even more benefit of using a Clipper card,” Lavin wrote for the Coalition.

Expected AC Transit fares for 2026

This story was first published by The Oaklandside.

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