![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-TRANSIT-BALLOT-002.jpg\")
People walk past a Blue Line trolley at the 12th and Imperial Transit Center on Friday, May 30, 2025 in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nMetropolitan Transit System officials voted Thursday to delay efforts to seek a sales tax ballot measure from 2026 until at least 2028 and instead to pursue their first fare increase since 2009.<\/p>\n
The moves are part of a wider plan to shrink future budget deficits totaling about $250 million. Other parts of the plan include unspecified cuts to bus and trolley service and raiding funds intended for\u00a0capital projects to pay routine operating expenses.<\/p>\n
The plan, which was approved unanimously Thursday by the MTS executive committee, also includes the option of shrinking the system\u2019s annual pension payment by softening some requirements.<\/p>\n
MTS is facing a budget crisis just as local transit has begun to attract more riders, including higher-income riders who aren\u2019t dependent on transit to get around. Officials say lack of funding threatens to thwart that progress.<\/p>\n
The local moves come as transit agencies around the nation move to manage financial problems. San Francisco\u2019s transit agency is facing a budget deficit and cutting service, despite rising ridership, while Philadelphia\u2019s has moved to slash service and raise fares in the absence of state funding, with lawmakers months late in passing a budget.<\/p>\n
Recent polling and research show that 2028 \u2014 a presidential election year, when higher voter turnout is often expected \u2014 makes more sense for the ballot measure than 2026, said MTS chief executive Sharon Cooney.<\/p>\n
Other concerns include the possibility of competing revenue measures on the 2026 ballot and the lack of time remaining to prepare, she added.<\/p>\n
The proposed half-cent\u00a0sales tax increase could generate about $300 million a year. It would be limited to areas served by MTS; North County communities would be excluded because they are served by the North County Transit District.<\/p>\n
Cooney said delaying the sales tax measure, while the right move, worsens the MTS budget crisis by postponing by two years the possibility of a crucial new revenue stream.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the move to delay the ballot measure until 2028 is being approved in conjunction with other efforts to address the budget crisis, including a fare increase of somewhere between 10% and 20%.<\/p>\n
The one-way fare of $2.50 would rise to either $2.75 or $3, and an adult monthly pass would rise from $72 to either $79 or $86. MTS officials said they expect the hike, if approved, to begin next July.<\/p>\n
Mike Thompson, MTS deputy chief financial officer, said the $72 adult pass rate should have risen to $110 if it had been adjusted for inflation since the last increase in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see how much we\u2019ve lost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A 10% fare increase would raise MTS annual revenue by about $8 million per year, while a 20% hike would generate about $16 million. Those figures account for some loss of ridership in response to the hikes.<\/p>\n
People walk past a Blue Line trolley at the 12th and Imperial Transit Center on Friday, May 30, 2025 in San Diego. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The fare increase generated the most backlash Thursday from the executive committee, especially from county Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, who stressed that roughly 75% of MTS riders are low-income.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to continue to do this on the backs of poor people,\u201d said Montgomery Steppe, adding that federal cuts to social services make the timing particularly bad. \u201cI\u2019m anticipating the kind of dire need from people that I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montgomery Steppe suggested targeting fare hikes at higher-income riders, such as those who use rapid buses or take the trolley to Padres games.<\/p>\n
Stephen Whitburn, the executive committee chair and a San Diego City Council member, suggested fare hikes could exempt groups that already get discounts, including seniors, veterans, community college students and others.<\/p>\n
The proposed fare increase faces a number of bureaucratic hurdles.<\/p>\n
It must first be analyzed by the region\u2019s transportation agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, which must also handle public outreach.<\/p>\n
Then a formal proposal will go to boards for MTS and NCTD for approval. Once those hurdles are cleared, the proposal would go to the SANDAG board for final approval.<\/p>\n
The last time a fare hike was considered was in 2020 \u2014 but local leaders ended up going in the opposite direction. To encourage more transit use, they instituted free transfers from buses to trolleys and within the bus and trolley systems.<\/p>\n
Ronn Hall, who represents Santee on the executive committee, stressed that fare increases simply can\u2019t generate enough revenue to solve the financial problems facing MTS.<\/p>\n
Other parts of the plan include raiding capital project funding to cover\u00a0operating expenses\u00a0in an effort to minimize possible service cuts.<\/p>\n
The MTS board had previously approved moving\u00a0$25 million in capital funds to pay for operations in the ongoing fiscal year, $35 million in fiscal 2027 and $50 million in fiscal 2028. On Thursday, they increased those contributions to $50 million per year for four consecutive years, fiscal years 2027 through 2030.<\/p>\n
The changes mean the system will have taken $225 million in capital funds and spent it on operating costs over the next five years. MTS would continue to spend roughly $90 million on capital projects, but the approach would be more reactive and less proactive.<\/p>\n
The final element of the plan is cutting costs, including with\u00a0cuts to\u00a0bus and trolley service that haven\u2019t been determined.<\/p>\n
![\"MTS](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-ballot-fares-_008.jpg\")
MTS buses at the Old Town Transit Center on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (Sandy Huffaker for The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n