Higher San Francisco Muni Fares An Option In Transit Budget Fix

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco Muni passengers may end up shelling out more to catch a ride, as the city's transit agency looks to shore up a growing budget deficit.

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has a projected $23 million deficit this year, and a projected $34 million deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 2012.

Consequently, several revenue-generating ideas will be presented to the agency's governing board Monday - among them, charging riders an extra 25-cents for cash fares and another 25-cents per transfer, raising parking fines another $3 to $68 per ticket, or charging people to park at meters on nights and Sundays.

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

Rider reaction was mixed Friday morning at San Francisco's Castro station.

"50-cents may not seem like a lot on a daily basis but on a monthly basis or yearly basis it really affects people who are middle income and poor," one man reasoned at the Castro station Friday morning.

"Um, yeah I mean I would," another rider acknowledged he'd pay the additional fair. "Because I have to."

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