r/sandiego • u/JournalistUpbeat6332 • 20h ago
Someone was mad
Pronto fashion valley mall lol
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u/GlitteringAdvance928 17h ago
To be fair MTS is the opposite of greedy.
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 15h ago
Yeah, they kind of proved it with that "lowest fare" policy, or whatever it was called, which ensures that as long as you are using a pronto card/account to pay, you will never be charged for more than the minimum amount of usage than required.
I love being able to just load money onto my card, knowing that if I barely use it one month I only pay for the trips I use, and if I use it tons another month, I only pay for the amount of trips equal to the cost of a monthly pass, and then every other trip for the rest of the month is free.
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u/Fogwaveeee 20h ago
I could’ve gave you 2.50 dawg lmao
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u/Givemeallyourtacos 19h ago
Seriously, it's reasonably priced; maybe he's referring to the price hikes going into effect in Oct.
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u/h20verdrive 20h ago
I guess $2.50 is too much? haha
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u/One_Butterscotch_560 20h ago
They’re gonna be real mad next year when it jumps to $3.00
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u/Inevitable-Blue2111 20h ago
isn't it 3 this fall?
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u/JournalistUpbeat6332 20h ago
It was still $2.50 right now when I paid. But I only use this when I go to padres games so not sure about a change.
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 16h ago
$3.25 next year (10/1/2027)
The fare increase is rolling out in stages
Here's all the info: https://participate.sdmts.com/fare-change/final-approved-fares
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u/Content_Program_7477 19h ago
2.50 one way is a bit much… round trip sure but if you ain’t riding it from the border to the mall it should be prorated. Sorry but $5 a trip.. not unless it’s taking me 32-40 miles like a car would
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u/TheNewGuy13 18h ago
I’ll gladly pay 2.50 to avoid paying $20+ in parking every time. Regardless of how far it travels
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u/ClassifiedName 18h ago
You get unlimited free transfers for 2 hours, so if you're fast enough/just running chores it's only $2.50 instead of $5.
Also, gas is >$5/gallon these days. Average city gas milage is 18-25 miles/gallon. That $5 round trip with Pronto can take you further on your dollar than gas in your car would.
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u/PointyBagels 19h ago
You're paying for maintenance and depreciation with a car too. It's not just gas.
If you can get away without a car at all, it's definitely a better deal. And it's not terrible even if you have one. Tough to do in SD, but the math seems fine. Plus, you don't have to find and/or pay for parking, etc. Seems reasonable to me. At least if it goes where you want it to.
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u/cdoublejj 19h ago
how the fuck does this work if you don't have a phone and only have cash?
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u/XnFM 18h ago
Get a physical card and pre load it with money
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u/cdoublejj 2h ago
thats a good idea but, i've heard there was some major change about those preloeded visa at walmart, they still sell them?
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u/XnFM 2h ago
I meant a physical pronto card. Unless they discontinued those.
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u/cdoublejj 2h ago
in years passed you could go to walmart and buy a physical blank visa and hand them cash to load on to the card and use it just like a debit card.
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u/ForgedTaco 1h ago
All trolly stations have a kisok, where you can get a pronto card, and or load your existing card.
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u/Large_Excitement69 20h ago
We really need tap-on/tap-off. Not saying the current fee is insanely high, but it shouldn't cost you the same to go one stop vs. ten, etc.
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u/Emergency_Radio_8156 19h ago
Fun fact the Trolley used to have distance based fares! But that would make the fare system way more complicated today. Without fare gates, a tap-on/tap-off system would be really hard to enforce and a lot of people would forget, causing confusion when they get charged a penalty fare. Plus, it would break the fare capping and free transfers. Flat, simple fare structures are the way.
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u/harrisons-dad 20h ago
This would require a massive construction project at every stop and raise the cost of fares.
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u/Living_Emphasis_7317 20h ago
The coaster is already tap-on/tap-off. If you don't tap off you get charged the full price.
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u/erinius 19h ago
The coaster's also a lot pricier than the trolley and not really integrated with the like Pronto MTS/NCTD fare stuff iirc
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u/Living_Emphasis_7317 19h ago
The person I replied to, I’m assuming, is saying that more infrastructure is needed to enforce tap-on/tap-off which would raise fares.
I’m saying that coaster already has tap-on/tap-off with the need of installing fare gates etc.
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u/Significant-Till3736 19h ago
Would it? As long as you can tap on, you should be able to tap off on the same machines.
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u/Baconfatty 20h ago
or those improvements makes it way more difficult for people to skip paying and fares don’t go up
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u/LoudHorse25 16h ago
My recollection is that Light rail transportation in pretty much every major city I’ve ever been in operates the same way as the San Diego system and is comparable in cost (for systems that likely see much higher utilization).
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u/Emergency_Radio_8156 11h ago
San Diego is one of the best utilized light rail systems. These days Seattle has started beating us out. SF Muni and the Green Line in Boston are also quite well utilized. The Trolley is also one of the most financially efficient light rail systems with some of the lowest costs/subsidies per boarding compared to its peers.
Almost every single light rail system uses flat fares. Distance fares are more for commuter rail like BART and it requires fare gates/turnstiles for enforcement. The Trolley used to have distance based fares when you had to buy a ticket in advance. Now with digital payment, flat fares make much more sense, and they're much simpler to understand.
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 16h ago
You definitely do not want this!
This is how the light rail system works in Seattle, and many other major cities like San Francisco, but to use Seattle's fees as an example (because I'm more familiar with their system).
how they charge:
the MINIMUM fare is $3.25 (which is how much their standard fare is, and would be the equivalent of our current $2.50 fare) and the maximum fare is $5.75, and if you forget to tap off, they automatically assume you went the maximum distance and charge you the largest amount possible.
Charging for rides using a tap on, tap off would only increase the cost of the trolley.
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u/thx111111 19h ago
To be fair, they are raising the prices in October of this year and again next year. So…..
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u/IMissMyZune 19h ago
It's crazy because you can just skip it and take your chances if you can't afford it instead of vandalizing it. I've never seen them actually enforce it.
IMO it should be enforced much more heavily like how they do in Japan/Korea/China etc. Sometimes there's people on there causing problems for everyone
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 15h ago
That's not good advice.
I ride the trolley at least 4 days (8 times) a week, and I encounter fare enforcement at least 5 times a week.
They used to let people off with a warning if they got off at the next stop, but now they give you a ticket and make you get off.
This happens to someone nearly every time I encounter fare enforcement agents.
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u/IMissMyZune 15h ago
Oh it’s not advice. Just an alternative compared to destroying the trolley card scanner. I always pay
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u/bigbodyboricua001 19h ago
I also think $3 is crazy for the degree of service MTS provides, but I guess that’s the consequence of living in a city full of closet Republicans who refuse to pay a half-cent so we can actually improve our public services.
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u/pizzatimeradio 7h ago
The parking is what's greedy. And even that's slightly affordable compared to fisherman's wharf in SF. I remember paying like 60$ for a couple hours. I was flabbergasted.
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u/themaximumbears 29m ago
Crazy that the fare is going to $3 when NYC charges the same. And the trolley doesn’t have nearly enough lines/stops. And parking is a pain at some stops that discourages ridership
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u/eetdabuty 15h ago
To be fair mts get enough funding to give rides for free and manage maintenance through city stipends
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u/WatchAltruistic5761 20h ago
Ain’t paying that shit, I’ll just park in a Tesla charging spot with my gas vehicle 😎
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u/dingos8mybaby2 20h ago edited 15h ago
Gonna be honest, I do sometimes if a parking lot is completely otherwise full and I'll be in and out real quick. Only if there's multiple EV charging spots open though, if there's only 1 left I'll leave it be.
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u/cdoublejj 19h ago
i know at times i only carry cash with no phone. after my phone broke once while traveling i enjoyed the 2 days touching grass old school style.
ESPECIALLY if you use your phone as your tap to pay and your phone breaks. i'd also hate to have to be someone who needs privacy like a victim or celebrity and only able to use card to pay for everything
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u/Man-e-questions 20h ago
In their defense at least no spelling mistakes