Fight against San Francisco's plan to charge more for Muni riders paying cash!
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) just
voted to charge riders a 25-cent surcharge if they pay with cash. This boosts the fare for cash payers to $2.50 and will harm low-income/homeless riders the most.
Please sign my petition to urge SFMTA's Board of Directors to reverse this decision!The agency said the goal is to persuade more riders to use their automatic Clipper Cards or a Muni fare app, but in reality, this policy will just disproportionately negatively affect people who
can't afford to keep a cash balance on a Clipper Card or can't afford a Clipper Card in the first place. Clipper Cards cost $3. For occasional riders, getting a Clipper Card is a major inconvenience because you have to make a trip to one of the stations where you can load your card, which aren't bus stops (which are located almost anywhere), but one of the few underground stops. This policy also makes it so that you will need a credit or debit card to avoid the surcharge.
It's blatantly classist, furthers surveillance of movement, and is essentially a poverty penalty tax. Most Muni stops in SF do not offer the ability to load your card with funds on the spot. That means if you don’t need a monthly pass, don’t have the funds to leave a balance on a card, and do want to ride the Muni,
you will be penalized $0.25 for being too poor to have the ability to go cashless. This policy is
discriminatory against those who choose to use cash, and penalizes poor people, making them poorer in the process.
As a city that prides herself on inclusion, a policy of this nature is counter to the very foundation of equality that makes San Francisco the city it is today.
Please sign my petition to urge SFMTA's Board of Directors to reverse this decision!
We the undersigned urge the SFMTA Board of Directors to reverse your decision to
charge riders a 25-cent surcharge if they pay with cash. This boosts the fare for cash payers to $2.50 and will harm low-income/homeless riders the most.
You've said the goal is to persuade more riders to use their automatic Clipper Cards or a Muni fare app, but in reality, this policy will just disproportionately negatively affect people who
can't afford to keep a cash balance on a Clipper Card or can't afford a Clipper Card in the first place. Clipper Cards cost $3. For occasional riders, getting a Clipper Card is a major inconvenience because you have to make a trip to one of the stations where you can load your card, which aren't bus stops (which are located almost anywhere), but one of the few underground stops. This policy also makes it so that you will need a credit or debit card to avoid the surcharge:
It's blatantly classist, furthers surveillance of movement, and is essentially a poverty penalty tax.
Most Muni stops in SF do not offer the ability to load your card with funds on the spot. That means if you don’t need a monthly pass, don’t have the funds to leave on a card, and do want to ride the Muni, you will be penalized $0.25 for being too poor to have the ability to go cashless. This policy is discriminatory against those who choose to use cash, and penalizes poor people, making them poorer in the process.
As a city that prides herself in inclusion, a policy of this nature is counter to the very foundation of equality that makes San Francisco the city it is today.Please do the right thing and reverse this policy. Thank you.
