SFMTA Announces Free TransLink® Cards For Youth and Seniors

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced today upcoming events where customers can apply for a free youth or senior TransLink card. The events will take place at Muni Metro stations beginning Thursday, February 25.

TransLink is the convenient way to pay for rides on many Bay Area transit services. The TransLink card stores value in the form of electronic cash (e-cash) and transit passes. In addition to being accepted on Muni, TransLink also is accepted by AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, Dumbarton Express, and Golden Gate Transit and Ferry.

Youth and senior discounts are available with TransLink, but customers must apply in person for a specially encoded youth or senior TransLink card. Appropriate discounts will be applied when customers use their cards. The normal fee for a TransLink card is $5. For a limited time, SFMTA is waiving the $5 fee.

To make it easier for youths and seniors to begin using TransLink, SFMTA is holding a series of promotional events at Muni Metro stations and at the first Sunday Streets event, where customers can apply in person for their free youth or senior TransLink card. Events will take place as follows:

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*For event information about Sunday Streets, visit www.sundaystreetssf.com.

Customers who wish to apply for a free youth or senior TransLink card should bring one of the following accepted forms of identification:

• Birth Certificate
• Driver’s License
• San Francisco City Identification Card
• Alien Registration/Permanent Resident Card
• Matricula Consular/Consular Identification Card
• Military Identification Card
• Military Dependent Identification Card
• Passport

After submitting an application, applicants will receive their cards in the mail within seven to 10 business days. Once customers have a youth or senior TransLink card, they may load their Muni discounted monthly pass on their TransLink cards; they also may load e-cash on their cards and pay the equivalent of a youth or senior cash fare.

The TransLink card stores passes and cash value and automatically deducts the correct fare and calculates transfers and discounts. As of January 2010, boardings on Muni with the TransLink card averaged more than 11,000 per weekday. Over the next year, the SFMTA will start to phase out the costly distribution and management of printed paper passes, replacing them with the multi-use, durable TransLink card.

Currently Regional Transit Connection (RTC) customers receive their RTC Identification on a TransLink card. They may begin using the payment functions of TransLink at any time.

For more information about the youth and senior TransLink card promotional events, visit www.sfmta.com or call 311. For more information about TransLink, visit www.translink.org.