Like Bart, Muni needs to massively improve its riders' safety and have a strict "no ticket, no ride" policy even for the homeless.

If you decriminalize shoplifting, then why would you expect people to pay for anything else??

Three quarters of the riders don't pay. Yet management won't acknowledge it. Replace management.

Why would people pay when their is no consequence to not paying. Eventually people get tired of "doing the right thing" when they see many others just getting it freely.

Everything is free in California, as long as it’s under $950.

What do you think happens when there’s zero enforcement?

I don't often ride Mini, (previous BART rider here) but the one time I rode a Muni-bus about 2 years ago, I'd estimate 50% didn't pay. And it was very disappointing that I saw people who could obviously afford to pay, not do it. I think Muni should advertise on the bus saying, lack of paying for a ride will lead to less service. Then reduce service for a month, with advertisements at the bus service saying why. What a month or two, bring the service back to the normal level and see if more people pay. I travel all over the country and the world, but live in the Bay Area and must say I've really lost a lot of respect for the Bay Area in the past 3 years.

I ride muni everyday, unlike many I don't stare at my phone to pass the time, I count the number of fare jumpers for amusement. IMO during the day I would say some 60% don't pay, at night that number goes to 90%. I have a monthly muni pass and I ask myself sometimes why bother to pay if no one else does. Then I snap back to reality. Muni needs to crack down, and crack down hard, days and nights. Even if the labor costs exceed the fare gains the system needs to be restored to where people know that they must pay for their ride. That rant aside, I would be in favor of making all muni travel free of charge for everyone all the time.

It is embarrassing that a locally based news channel doesn't have anybody involved with this story that has enough first and second hand experience with Muni ridership to recognize that the most frequent riders have the most financial & convenience motivation to get a monthly pass, and that monthly pass doesn't require that the legitimate passholder tap in and tap out. And, those frequent riders would likely be disproportionately represented if you were to take a "random" sampling of the passengers who are boarding and disembarking. I.e., if there are 1,000,000 unique individuals who ride Muni in a given calendar year, that includes people like me (I usually pay with the Muni smartphone app) who rarely ride Muni, so I am probably not in your sample; but also includes people who have a monthly pass and commute and run their daily living errands by taking Muni. By virtue of frequent usage, those passholders will likely be significantly represented in your sample.

I ride Muni daily and less than half of the riders pays. A year ago it was more than half. So it’s getting worse.

I believe enforcement of fares would drastically reduce crime on Muni and Bart.

If no one else is doing the right and lawful thing, why should I? And there goes society down the toilet.

Watching the news out of SF is like looking at a different universe. It’s like looking at a place where rules and common sense don’t apply.

I paid the other day at nine in the evening, and I felt like a complete idiot, because even the old white people that got on the train with me didn’t pay. I literally didn’t see anyone pay other than myself from the ballpark all the way to Embarcadero station.

How about just paying fare

In NYC they have fare inspectors that will randomly board busses and check for compliance. Violators get hefty fines. They need to ramp up enforcement so people don't think it's so easy to get "free" rides.

The degree of stupidity by transit bureaucrats is alarming. They have no interest in fixing fare evasion, rather, they have their hands out for relief funds and want to further penalize car drivers. San Francisco was a nightmare 20 years ago for parking.

I bet if they hired 100 fare inspectors, they would make their money back 100 times.

It's not "crowd behavior" it's "mob behavior"

crowd behavior is when everyone start to go to stores and just grab what they need without paying.

Low income elderly over 65 yrs old can ride Muni Free. They shouldn't be counted. And yes, fare evaders (who can afford paying) are a problem. But this report fails to explain how Muni is a huge money pit, that continues to waste millions. SF residents voted in 1999 to merge the parking meter maids with SF Muni (creates SFMTA), so parking fines can fund Muni, effective in 2002. In 2009, Taxi regulation was added to SFMTA. All parking/traffic citations and taxi revenue goes to SFMTA, and still that is not enough funding.

Why would I pay when I can ride for free and buy a ticket with my phone if a fare inspector shows up? The mobile app has to be among the dumbest fare collection ideas ever. The app is the ultimate fare evasion tool.

Are people that live in sf that oblivious to what's going on around them? I visited SF and within a few trips on Muni knew most people do NOT pay.

Why tf should the state subsidize local transit management's incompetence? 🤬

Residents are pissed because they feel nickeled and dimed by everything in the city. And at the same time they see people, flagrantly, shoplifting, and breaking laws without any consequence. It’s like if there are kids in the class who are blatantly, cheating all the time and getting away with it, it causes people to not respect rules overall.

Pretty much identical to when I used to commute regularly on the Geary or Fulton buses. I would use my clipper card while the vast majority of folk just waltzed on by or at best waved an empty hand at the reader. Even during the occasional random Muni official inspection of disembarking passengers in downtown, those who paid would stop, have our cards scanned and given a thumbs up while the non-paying passengers just pushed through and either hurled abuse, mumbled threats and simply ignored the otherwise powerless Muni inspectors.

I always pay because I’m not a poor dirtbag person. I ride the muni to experience what the other half of the people live.

From one death spiral to another death spiral. Seems CA has an issue with just enforcing laws...

I worked at Muni for 15 months and was shocked to learn that most people who utilize Muni don’t pay to ride.

Public transportation should be a public service, not a profit seeking venture.

muni operators used to check fares but not only the occasional fare inspector checks fares

If you don’t make enough money to live in San Francisco, you have to cut corners! When you have people riding the Muni, they don’t have cars! We just go about our day to make a living with what little pay check we make. So do we pay Muni, or do we pay our rent? Muni needs to be Free in the City Limits!

It's the same down here in L.A. When I'm in San Francisco I'm using my Clipper Card. Maybe I'm chicken, but I don't want to be part of the 1% (if even that) who could be caught without paying and then I'll end up leaving S.F. with a big fine. Acutally, the last time I was in San Francisco earlier this year I did take BART from SFO to Powell Street Station. I've taken it before but I got confused how to exit with a large piece of luggage that I wanted to take the elevator. I managed to exit without scanning out. The trip was never deducted from my balance. On the way back to the airport it was the same thing, except I entered BART without scanning in. I couldn't scan out and the BART people manually deducted the fare and let me out. What I think happened is there is a Clipper terminal next to the elevator door. It's easy to miss. Stuff like that is also a reason why BART and MUNI lose revenue.

1. Free Muni and all public transportation. (like in Luxemburg) 2. Higher Parking Fee (Stop people from using their private cars) 3. Congestion Charge (London, Paris, Stockholm) and use those funds to expand Muni and BART

No, even on the underground, people walk through the gate in front of Muni booth, with the attendant in the booth. Why bother paying for clipper card when the drivers never seem to care?

I see people jumping the Bart gate everyday right in front of the Bart window. Nobody cares.

I pay my fare. I used my muni app. The is so convenient. I don’t have to tap the machine. There should be fare inspector to check fare.

People are just scum. It's just sad, why would fare inspectors risk their lives.

My personal policy for getting on any kind of transport is: "See the reader, touch the reader".

Some people use the MUNI app to pay for their fares and don’t need to tap getting on

If the bus driver demands the fare, threaten to file a complaint. Enforcing the fare is against the rules for drivers. Supervisors will review the tapes and the driver will get written up.

So accurate, thanks for reporting this. And it really feel like MUNI is delirious about this issue.

People aren't paying their rent and not paying to register their cars. A lot of people aren't paying for things they take from stores. If you need some quick cash just cut a catalytic converter off of a Prius. Gosh, eliminating consequences for breaking our community rules is utopian heaven on earth.

They said more people are riding, but almost half are fare skippers. Would they ride if they were forced to pay? But their solution isn't to find a way to make the riders pay; instead, it's to force the people who aren't using the service to pay the thieves' share (street parking, downtown drivers, the rest of the state, etc.). This twisted logic is another reason why the once beautiful city has become a shitehole.

Lifeline pass holder don't need to tag tho; all they need is a valid sticker

Make it free but raise the city tax.

Tumlin was sold as a savior when he was hired. The guy has been an absolute disaster. Please make everyone that enters the bus have to tag the reader whether they have discounts or not. Only then will it be obvious who is not paying. Don't even get me started on that creep Weiner, who is another disaster.

I'm frequently the ONLY person paying fare. No, they DIDN'T pay another way. It seems unfair and now I'll pay higher parking fees to subsidize fare evaders

NYC transit is having the very same fare evasion problem

I see folks jumping the gates all the time. One time the fare checkers stopped this big black dude and tried to give him a citation, and he just walked off and they were scared to try and stop him.

Same going on in NYC.

they could punish fare evaders with public floggings. They could even sell tickets to the events, raising further revenue.

Asking for more funding?! While the top executives making more than your average citizen...

"We need the state to help out" of course, shift the cost burden onto someone else.

The city is falling apart.

Some people have low income cards

WOW! I'm not paying. Now that I have seen this.😂

BART is the same . Can you please stand the GATE .

Paying a monthly pass ahead of the month just to have the bus be hella late or no show at all at a certain time and cannot get a refund for late and no show is BS too

Not saying that this isn’t a big issue, but there’s also those like me who buy a fast pass and don’t tap it. when it’s crowded and I’m lazy, I don’t tap my clipper because it can be a hassle. Also not accounting for those on a lifeline pass that don’t need to tap their card either. I think the means of looking at those who tap their card isn’t very accurate representation. You also mentioned muni mobile/alternative ways to pay so you touched on it a little already.

I used to pay for all transportation I take because the companies I've worked for gave out Vouchers. NOW I will honestly say I pay when I could, I don't when I cannot. I am sort of the problem of the Financial Crisis happening.

You just said the quiet part out loud in San Francisco, unbelievable. Even if by conservative estimates 40% of riders don't pay as the bus drivers said, then that essentially is your $118 million dollar hole. But no, make drivers pay and businesses suffer with extended meters, then the drivers stop coming to SF and the businesses fail.

Lol, garbage reporting. I use the muni mobile app on my phone -- no tagging done. Monthly pass holders also don't have to tag.

Fares never made a large portion of the budget. This is quite misleading.

Fare compliance on Santa Clara County VTA is pretty solid. I was surprised to see exactly what this story reported when I spent time in San Francisco recently. I don’t buy MUNI’s explanation that any significant number of people are using the app for payment. In fact, having an app rather than a Clipper card has probably contributed to the no pay mindset.

So it sound like the real problem is paying Muni workers way too much money and benefits

Social norm is scary

@MexicanBatman be real the AC transit culture is totally different most of the drivers are OG gangster and combative they will kick yo a&& and will get away with it because that type of response is tolerated amongst the bosses and the public. I've seen some passengers get their azz kicked by the drivers for being disrespectful

The city refuses to prosecute massive retail theft and robberies, but your $3 bus fair is the issue? Please cry harder, London Breed. You did this.

YOU VOTED FOR THIS.... YOU DESERVE THIS.

Yes. Charge those don’t ride the bus for those that do.

The drivers dome pay fare ahare or the roads maintenance and parking too. And parking adda to business costs .there are well established studies on it. So equity is failing there too!So it's not a bad idea bekar o make public transit funded by non fare revenue or subsidies but implementation of it in a proper manner is essential and improving the safety

Stop charging more for parking, it's freaking expensive as it is.

Muni could do one simple thing- stop the all-door boarding. People who dare evade go through the back doors, and they don’t wanna pay. Limit all the fares to the front door. That way the fare evasion can stop a lot

I take bus and pay fare but i see people, more than half, never pay. Why is my tax money paying these free loaders. Their clothes don’t seem they are struggling for money.

The only time when people have to pay is when they go into the metro stations

I am sick of seeing people not paying. I will just be driving.

Watching this news report, it seems like it's just poor shaming. Public transportation should be free, especially in one of the most expensive cities in the country. It also seems like this report on public transportation is about one corporation standing up for another corporation, and not the people!

Maybe Muni should install some device that will activate and only allow patrons who pay the fee to ride the bus.

That sfmta executive clearly doesn't ride the bus.

Surely a 30$ an hour cop could write 10 100$ tickets an hour for fare evasion?

I haven’t seen fare police for months.

SFmta is screwing over car drivers for there own gain. They deserve everything they get.

Close the back of the bus and use smaller buses

I would say most do not pay. Have seen transit officers 1 x week when I ride. But you also have to remember people over 62 ride free?

The Muni should be sued not collecting million of fares!!

Take more from the honest people, ignore the dishonest people. So motivational!

People don't pay, no more Muni.

Well everyone is going to have no reason going downtown anymore due to what’s going on with Retail stores right now. GOD HELP US?

I don't think seniors should be having to pay. Most are on fixed income or unemployeed, but they also dont need to travel, so fork over the cash grandma.

Crime, people are afraid to even ride at night. The city modestly a mess

If you put all these stupid rules in, nobody will come to SF anymore.

more fare inspectors please. Add them on all train-lines, and add them to all bus lines that are high frequency. So J,K,N,T,L,M and 28,38r,38,14…

You can pay with your phone without scanning

muni needs to enforce the fares, more farebox recovery means more federal funds for muni instead of asking for a bailout. muni may need to be humbled by being allowed to go bankrupt.

Well sf has decriminalized shoplifting. Why would anyone pay for the bus?

Why do they not pay? No accountability. People really shocked or don't really know why they don't pay? How did these people learn addition and subtraction in school? Wait its California they probably just let them graduate. Smh

More daily crime on SF Muni. As far as the Muni trains, SF paid out over a billion for the line that connects Union Square to Chinatown. With this nonpayment on the buses it pulls from the operating costs of the entire system. Everything is dragging into the ground and killing off SF as a thriving city. Stupid, huh?

The women at the end hit the nail on the head. Keep eliminating parking spots and raising meters and extending meter hours, and eventually, people will avoid coming into the city. Just keep nickle and dimming us all, and watch us stay home, and more businesses collapse because we don't want to pay $15 to park to go out to dinner. Valencia St restaurants for example will suffer from this.

lol.. my home town seems to be out of control these days.