Dustin Curran, a regular trolley rider who was taking the Green Line from the College Area to a new job at the downtown Cheesecake Factory on Thursday, said the higher fare spurred a range of emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really much of a difference for me,\u201d Curran said of the increased cost of a monthly pass. \u201cBut it does kinda suck, because I\u2019m just in the process of getting back on my feet and stuff. It is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pamela Palmer, another monthly pass user, said she was taking the hike in stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind \u2014 it\u2019s inflation,\u201d said Palmer, who takes an MTS bus every day from Rancho Bernardo downtown, where she then gets the trolley to her job in Old Town.<\/p>\n
Occasional riders were also relatively unfazed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still cheap,\u201d said Bill Sharpe, who lives downtown and takes the trolley once or twice a week to places like Fashion Valley or East Village.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sut-l-fare-increase-008.jpg\")
People ride the Green Line trolley toward El Cajon in San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The hikes, which affect all rail and bus service provided by MTS and the North County Transit District, are the first significant jump since 2009 and the first increases of any kind since one-way fares rose from $2.25 to $2.50 in 2019.<\/p>\n
Local officials say higher fares are needed to help cover rising costs and keep budgets balanced, but the hikes put the San Diego region at a higher price point than some comparable transit agencies across the nation.<\/p>\n
On local buses, the San Diego Trolley and the Sprinter, the cost of a monthly pass rose from $72 to $85 on Thursday and will rise to $95 in fall 2027 \u2014 up nearly 31% overall.<\/p>\n
One-way fares rose from $2.50 to $3 on Thursday and will rise to $3.25 in fall 2027. That will be a cumulative 30% hike.<\/p>\n
Mike Dealy, 85, said he won\u2019t be affected much because he rarely uses public transit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve used the trolley twice in the last five years, so it doesn\u2019t really affect me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s ridden the trolley three times this week to access the downtown state courthouse, and he\u2019s decided local transit is useful and a great value.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got better each day, because I learned things \u2014 like where to park near the Old Town station and what time is a good time to come,\u201d said Dealy, who lives in Point Loma. \u201cParking downtown is too expensive and too hard to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jan Susan, whose daily commute includes the free Coronado commuter ferry, said she\u2019s fine with the hike because local transit is convenient and worth the money. After getting off the ferry, she takes the trolley three stops from Santa Fe Depot to the convention center.<\/p>\n
Uma Bhatia said she\u2019s not even annoyed at the fare hike.<\/p>\n
\u201cA 50-cent fare hike is not really a big deal in the long run to me,\u201d said Bhatia, who lives in Mission Valley. \u201cPublic transportation in San Diego \u2014 the MTS \u2014 has been really great for me. It\u2019s great for getting to work, especially since my current job doesn\u2019t pay for parking and it\u2019s downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sut-l-fare-increase-007.jpg\")
People ride the Green Line trolley toward El Cajon in San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
In addition to the fare hikes, NCTD eliminated zoned fares on the Coaster commuter rail line Thursday.<\/p>\n
Those fares had charged passengers more for longer trips. Instead, all riders \u2014 no matter how far they\u2019re traveling \u2014 will start paying the same one-way fare, which will rise from $6.50 to $7 in fall 2027.<\/p>\n
In addition, a special monthly pass that can be used only on Sprinter trains and Breeze buses in North County rose in price Thursday from $59 to $65 and will rise to $70 in fall 2027.<\/p>\n
Other transit systems charge less or the same for one-way fares and for most types of passes.<\/p>\n
One-way fares are currently $3 in Dallas, $2.85 in San Francisco, $2.80 in Portland, Ore., $2.75 in Denver and $2.50 in Sacramento and Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
For both MTS and NCTD, discounts for seniors, disabled passengers and people on Medicare will be phased in. One-way fares rose from $1.25 to $1.50 Thursday and will not rise in 2027. Monthly passes will rise from $23 to $28 Thursday and then to $30 in fall 2027.<\/p>\n
An MTS spokesperson said things were running smoothly Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rollout of the new fares has been seamless across the MTS transit network,\u201d said the spokesperson, Hector Zermeno.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sut-l-fare-increase-001.jpg\")
New fare rates are posted at a bus stop by the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trolley and bus riders across San Diego coped smoothly Thursday with their first big fare hike in many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,23,100,74,76,75,1696,1967],"class_list":["post-484692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}