The price of a 30-day adult regional transit pass in San Diego County went up on the first of the month, from $72 to $85. The change took effect October 1, 2026, and it is the first of two scheduled steps, with the same pass set to reach $95 a year later. The reduced-fare pass moved too, and a new low-income program launched the same day that holds one group of riders at the old adult price.
The $72 to $85 adult monthly pass on MTS and NCTD
The SANDAG Transportation Committee approved the increase on July 17, 2026, and the agency’s news release lists the first-step figures plainly: the adult monthly pass on both the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and North County Transit District (NCTD) goes from $72 to $85, effective October 1, 2026. The same release describes the approval as the first significant fare increase since 2009, and says the rollout is spread over two years to “lessen the initial impact on transit riders.”
The price is now live on the operator’s own schedule. The MTS fare chart lists the regional adult month pass at $85, and SANDAG’s transit fare structure page shows the adult pass as $72 through September 30, 2026, then $85 from October 1, 2026, then $95 from October 1, 2027. Those figures all describe the adult monthly pass. A single bus or trolley ride is a separate fare; the MTS fares page still shows an adult one-way fare of $3.00 and a reduced-fare one-way of $1.50, and the SANDAG release does not restate either.
For a rider who buys one pass every month, the first step adds $13 a month, or $156 over a twelve-month stretch at the new price. The second step adds another $10 a month from October 2027. That arithmetic is the article’s own, built from the two published prices, and not a figure the agencies state.
Senior, disabled and Medicare riders pay $28, up from $23
The reduced-fare households face a smaller dollar increase but a larger percentage one. According to the SANDAG fare page, the monthly pass for senior, disabled and Medicare (SDM) riders was $23 through September 30 and is $28 from October 1, 2026, with a second step to $30 on October 1, 2027. The MTS fare chart lists the regional reduced-fare month pass at $28 in its standard version.
The SDM pass depends on proof of eligibility. The MTS fares page labels the reduced fare as ID required, so a rider who has not yet registered for it would pay the adult price. Riders aged 18 and under are not affected by the increase at all: SANDAG states that the approved changes “will not affect the Youth Opportunity Pass,” which continues to let anyone 18 and younger ride free with a Youth PRONTO account or card.
The release also lists NCTD COASTER commuter-rail prices separately, at $6.50 one way for adults and $3.25 for SDM riders, with monthly COASTER passes at $185 for adults and $60 for SDM riders.
PRONTO LIFE holds the adult pass at $72 for riders on CalFresh, Medi-Cal or CalWORKs
The SANDAG release says the new PRONTO LIFE program will “freeze current adult regional fares for eligible riders enrolled in CalFresh, Medi-Cal, and CalWORKs.” The MTS program page puts numbers on that freeze for October 1, 2026: a $2.50 one-way fare, a $6.00 daily cap and a $72.00 monthly pass. It applies to MTS and NCTD regional bus, Trolley and SPRINTER service, and excludes COASTER, Rapid Express, Rural, Access and LIFT.
It is a freeze for people who sign up, and not an automatic discount. Eligibility covers people actively enrolled in one of the three benefit programs who are not already in another reduced-fare program. Enrollment runs in two steps, according to the MTS page. First, the rider applies at ridepronto.com, or in person at the MTS Transit Store or NCTD Customer Service, with a current Verification of Benefits Letter and a government-issued photo ID. Second, the rider submits a signed Authorization for Release of Information to the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, Self-Sufficiency Services, through the BenefitsCal website, at a Family Resource Center, by mail to PO Box 939043, San Diego, CA 92193-9043, or by fax to 619-236-9167.
The page lists PRONTO Support at (619) 595-5636 and MTS Customer Service at (619) 557-4555. Applications opened August 20, 2026, and the page was last updated September 14, 2026.
What the agencies say about who the program is for
In the September 10 announcement of the program, MTS and NCTD estimated that about 34,000 eligible transit pass holders may qualify. San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, an MTS board member, framed the stakes in household terms in that release: “For a working mom trying to get to a second job, a senior on fixed income, or family choosing between rent, groceries, and health care, every dollar matters.” MTS Board Chair Stephen Whitburn said in the same release that “public transportation should remain affordable for the people who depend on it most.”
The gap between the two adult prices is the practical measure of the program. A PRONTO LIFE rider pays $72 for the month, while an adult rider outside the program pays $85. From October 2027, if the scheduled second step proceeds, the adult pass reaches $95. The program pages published so far describe the $72 price for October 1, 2026, and do not say what the low-income pass will cost after the 2027 step.
Both the fare increase and the PRONTO LIFE launch were verified this run against the SANDAG release dated July 17, 2026, SANDAG’s fare structure page, the MTS fare chart showing the $85 adult pass in effect, and the MTS PRONTO LIFE page updated September 14, 2026.
Other recurring home costs that have their own relief programs
A monthly transit pass is one fixed cost among several that older and lower-income households carry, and some of the others, such as property taxes and heating and cooling bills, come with relief programs that have their own applications and renewal dates. Those programs are separate from San Diego’s transit fares and from PRONTO LIFE.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit is an 11-page kit that covers the 5 kinds of property-tax relief and heating, cooling and home-repair help, with an application log and renewal calendar for keeping track of each one.
Line up the property-tax and home-cost applications on one calendar →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the fare figures were checked against SANDAG’s July 17 release and fare page and the MTS fare chart and PRONTO LIFE pages.
