The base fare on all Muni vehicles, except Cable Cars, is $1.50. In most locations, fares can be paid in cash, however bills are not accepted. Exact change, including dollar coins, will be accepted for fares on any bus, trolley bus, or F surface streetcars. On Muni Metro, a proof-of-payment system is in effect. All passengers on Routes J, K, L, M, N, and T must have a transfer from another line or other proof of payment. Change will not be given.

Disabled, Senior (ages 65 and over), and Youth (ages 5-17) base fares are 50 cents. However, identification is required.

Transfers are accepted from other lines, or given at no extra charge by request.

Cable Car fares are $5 one way. A separate $5 fare is required for each one-way ride on a cable car. Transfers are not issued nor accepted on any cable car line. Fare is paid to the conductor, who can make change for up to $20 bills. There is no discounted Youth (ages 5-17) fare. Seniors (ages 65 and over) and Disabled can get a $1 fare on Cable Cars only before 7 AM or after 9 PM, with proper identification. They must pay the regular $5 fare between 7 AM and 9 PM, seven days a week.

An all-day Cable Car pass is available for $10. This is sold only by Cable Car conductors, and is accepted only on Cable Cars until 12 midnight on the day of sale. No Senior, Disabled, or Youth discounts are available with the All-Day Cable Car pass. This pass would be worthwhile if more than 2 rides are taken in a single day, AND no other Muni riding is taking place.

Muni sells tokens (no discount) for use on any vehicle. Each token is worth $1.50. On Cable Cars, only one token will be accepted, along with $3.50 in cash to make up the $5 fare. They are sold in bags of 10 for $15.

Muni sells monthly passes good on all Muni vehicles, but that will not be elaborated upon for this discussion.

Muni sells Passports good for unlimited rides on Muni, including the Cable Cars. They are sold for periods of 1 day ($11), 3 days ($18), or 7 days ($24). The multi-day Passports must be used on consecutive days. Muni Passports are for sale at locations throughout San Francisco (1-day here, 3-day here, ), including the baggage claim areas of SFO Airport if you arrive by air. They are also for sale online: 1-day Passport 3-day Passport

One-day Passports for $11 are also sold by Cable Car conductors.

None of the above fare instruments will be accepted as payment on CalTrain or BART.

On the OTOL Northern California RailFest 2007, at latest count there will be 11 movements on Muni streetcars, and five on Cable Cars. At base one-way fares this could cost as much as $41.50. With the $10 Cable Car pass, the total would still come to $26.50. For our purposes, either the 1-day Passport (for Wednesday, July 18th) or the 3-Day Passport would be the best deal. In fact the one-day Passport costs just $1 more than the all-day Cable Car Pass, but you get to ride all Muni routes (bus, trolley bus, streetcar, etc.) as well. The 3-day Passport may be better for those who are staying at hotels in the city of San Francisco who may need to use Muni to ride between their hotels and the start or end points of the fest on Tuesday. For another $7 you would get to ride either Monday night, Tuesday, and Wednesday, or Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. Note that we all will need to use a Muni streetcar one more time on Thursday morning to get to the CalTrain station.

BART uses a stored-value farecard very similar to the one used on the Metro in Washington, DC. Fares are based on distance traveled. The farecard is inserted into a faregate upon both entry and exit. When leaving the system the correct fare is deducted from the card's value.

Our longest trip on BART will be on Tuesday morning and afternoon, as we ride from downtown San Francisco to the four East Bay termini. The last stop for us will be Richmond, where we will transfer to Amtrak.

However, the fare we have to pay is a little more complex than just computing the one-way fare between Embarcadero and Richmond. Besides entry and exit information, also encoded on the farecard is the time one enters the system. Because it will take almost five hours to get between those two points, we will have been in the system too long. Simply trying to exit at Richmond may result in our farecards being rejected at the exit faregates. A solution to this is currently being evaluated. We may have to exit the system at some midpoint location such as Fremont or downtown Oakland, and then re-enter.

Aside from our East Bay tour of the system on Tuesday, there will also be some single trips taken that day from Millbrae to SFO Airport and from SFO Airport to Embarcadero. On Wednesday there will be one trip from Embarcadero to Balboa Park, within the city. In addition, if you are staying at a hotel in the East Bay, you most likely will be using BART to get from your hotel to the fest starting point and to your hotel from the fest end point. You can calculate the value you will need here.

CalTrain fares are based on the number of zones through which a passenger travels. There are a total six zones. Our travels will not take us to Zones 5 or 6, which lie south of downtown San Jose.

On our fest, we will have three encounters with CalTrain. On Tuesday, we will be riding northbound from San Jose to Millbrae, a 3-zone trip costing $5.75. On Thursday, there will be a trip from San Francisco to San Jose, four zones costing $7.50.

CalTrain operates on a proof-of-payment system. Passengers may be asked by a conductor or fare inspector to show a ticket or other proof of payment. Tickets are not sold on trains. Violators can receive a summons for $250 plus court fees.

One way tickets must be purchased on the day of travel, and they are only good within four hours after sale. They can only be purchased from ticket vending machines or from staffed stations. The only stations that are staffed are San Francisco (4th & King) and San Jose-Diridon Station. One way tickets do not have to be validated, as they carry imprinted time and date information.

Ten-ride tickets give one a 15% discount off what ten one-way tickets would cost. They are available from ticket vending machines, however each one must also be put through a validator before use. Validators are located next to the TVM's. They can be used by multiple parties, so if we have 10 people in our group we could purchase one 10-ride ticket in a single transaction to save time and money.

They can also be purchased from staffed stations, or by mail by filling out an application form. You will get a personal identification number (PIN) which you can then use when you e-mail CalTrain with other important information.

The ticket vending machines themselves will accept cash, debit cards, or credit cards. They will make change for cash transactions.

CalTrain also offers a DayPass, which costs approximately twice the cost of a one-way ticket. It is valid for unlimited rides between the zones shown on the ticket, until the last train of the day it is used. This will not work for us as we are taking two trips on different days with varying lengths.

Here are the tickets we expect to have to buy:

CalTrain tickets are not valid on BART, Muni, VTA, or any other connecting transit systems.

ACE fares are based on this fare chart (.pdf file requires Adobe Reader). We are riding the entire line from San Jose to Stockton, so our adult fare will be $11.00. A special 50% fare for children under age 12, seniors over age 65, and persons with disabilities will be $5.50 in our case.

ACE operates on a proof-of-payment system. Passengers may be asked by a train attendant, "Passenger Service Representative", or fare enforcement officer to show a ticket. Tickets are not sold on trains. Violators can be cited, fined, and/or prosecuted.

ACE does not have ticket vending machines like other commuter transit providers. ACE encourages passengers to purchase their tickets via the internet. You can do so here. There should also be a vendor located on the platform at San Jose's Diridon Station starting 20 minutes before our departure.

Every ACE station does, however, have a ticket validator. You must validate your ticket before boarding the train.

Here are the tickets we expect to have to buy:

ACE tickets are not valid on any other carrier.