Directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency voted to extend an existing free-rides program to low-income seniors and disabled passengers at annual cost of $4.5 million.
The program began last year with free passes for young students funded for two years with a donation by tech giant Google Inc.
“This program expansion is more than a vote on how to get around town,” said Ed Reiskin, the agency’s transportation director, told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
“This vote ensures that residents of San Francisco, who need it most, will continue to have access to vital life-sustaining medical care, jobs, education and recreational pursuits,” he said.
The city transit system is known as “Muni.”
Google offered the money, more than $6 million, last year after city residents complained that the company was using Muni bus stops to pick up employees on a daily basis and shuttle them to work in Silicon Valley.
City leaders had committed to extending the program when funding became available, and dozens of people spoke in favor of offering free rides to seniors and disabled riders at an MTA meeting Tuesday.
The vote makes San Francisco the first major city in the United States to offer free rides to youth, senior and disabled passengers, the newspaper said, although many offer discounted tickets to such passengers.
Many residents told the board before the vote Tuesday that people on fixed incomes were being forced out of San Francisco by skyrocketing rents and other increases in the cost of living.
Some residents said they did not have enough money to buy monthly transit passes after paying their monthly expenses.
“You’re paying your rent, paying your food, paying your prescription drugs,” 76-year-old Mary Ellen White told the board.
“There’s not a lot left over,” she said.
One man said he and a few friends chipped in to buy a senior pass and shared it throughout the month, taking turns running errands.
Muni riders will be able to buy the new passes beginning Wednesday, the newspaper said.
Further details and applications will be made available on the MTA website — www.sfmta.com — or by calling 311.
