18h ago

This led to a very confusing discussion in the replies about the varying fares and systems of public transit in the Oakland-San Francisco area

As it turns out it doesn't actually cost that much on regular transit, there's an AIRPORT SURCHARGE because it's an "airport train".

No wonder Americans don't use public transit, even when the system exists it's ridiculously difficult and expensive to use.

Source

122 comments

Imagine working minimum wage in SF and commuting in by BART + BUS / MUNI Lightrail / CALTRAIN / FERRY. Gotta work at least 2 hours just to cover the costs of your commute every day.
- There is a significantly reduced fare available. https://www.sfmta.com/fares/clipper-start
- Wait... Employers don't cover travel cost to and from work in America..?
  
  Lmao.
  
  No they don’t
  
  Where do they cover your commuting costs? I've never heard of that.
  
  In Brazil, it's pretty common for the employer to pay your transit fare to/from work. Often you can receive the same value directly instead if you choose to use another form of transportation.
  
  Here in Paris, half of our transportation fee (carte Navigo, 87€ per month) is paid by the employer.
  
  It's common in multiple European countries.
  
  but also not common in multiple european countries
  
  Shit bruh, even here in the fucked up USA, plenty of places (in cities, anyway) subsidize commutes. My employer pays for half of my public transport costs.
  
  Where do employers cover the cost of sommuting?
  
  Pretty rarely, far as I know. I've seen some that cover public transit costs at least. It's more common for them to only reimburse costs for travel during work hours or for business related trips.
  
  Nope, very rarely do you see them cover it at all. That's why we hate our 1+ hour drive commutes.
  
  Wtf? It's normal in the Netherlands...
  Public transport will be the whole second class price. By car it is up to 23 cents per kilometer.
  
  Gosh that would be nice. Unfortunately we are stuck on simpler issues like "do kids deserve to eat at school", so it'll probably be a while before we get paid commute time.
  
  Many do: I believe there is a tax incentive for them. I’ve only had it while working downtown, and in a white collar job. So not where you’d usually drive to work and not for hourly pay.
  Given that there are very few required benefits, it can be fairly regressive. You don’t get help with transit unless you’re an aid enough. You don’t get better health coverage unless you’re paid enough.
  
  Not in Canada either
  
  Not required. SF does have an ordinance to cover some costs depending on the number of employees. But its not some nationwide law.
  If you're a fancy tech bro in SF all your costs are covered, health/dental/vision/life insurance, commuting stipend or govt subsidized account you get to put pre-tax money in and the company might match, matching contributions for your retirement 401K. The techbro class doesn't care about the cost of BART, many of them take an UBER for 3-4x the BART faire and not bat and eye at the bill (or use the company UBER account for free). If you're just some random minimum wage worker, you'd be lucky to live within an hour or two commute of SF and afford housing.
  
  Surprisingly it is a national law, but it’s in the tax code as an optional benefit so it’s usually the better part paying jobs that get it, weirdly enough. Scroll to “commuter benefit)
  https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b#en_US_2025_publink1000193741
  
  I was a techbro in sf. I worked from home most days, but when I went to the office, I used Bart and my bicycle. It was great. I hate cars.
  And, yes, I got the State to refund me for my monthly Bart pass
  
  They do. You have to apply for it, and there's a ceiling per month.

122 comments