SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Riders who commute on BART are looking at a fee hike at the beginning of the year. Fares for BART will increase 5.5% on Jan. 1, 2025, according to a news release from Bay Area Rapid Transit on Tuesday. The fare increase, according to BART, will help the transit system keep pace with inflation and "pay for continued operations and to work toward restoring financial stability." BART's funding model relies on passenger fares to pay for operations. The New Year's Day increase, BART said, is tied to the current rate of inflation, minus a half-percentage point. A similar BART fare increase took effect on Jan. 1 of 2024. San Francisco watchdog Ricci Wynne arrested, suspected of pimping The rate hike will see BART fares increase an average of 25 cents, BART said. Already, the transit system has updated its fare calculator and Trip Planner with the new fare rates for trips on Jan. 1, 2025 and beyond. "We understand that price increases are never welcome, but BART fares remain a vital source of funds even with ridership lower than they were before the pandemic," said BART Board Vice President Mark Foley. "My Board colleagues and I voted in June 2023 to spread necessary fare increases over two years rather than catching up all at once." BART expects the fare increase to raise about $14 million per year of operations. While BART has seen an increase in ridership in recent months, the system is still only carrying a fraction of the daily passengers it did before the pandemic when it would average over 400,000 riders on a weekday. Without an increase in ridership, or at least in funding and or income, BART warns it could be facing severe service cuts. Some of the proposed cuts include suspending weekend service, ending weekday service at 9 p.m. and running trains less frequently. The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency has also announced that it will raise fares on Jan. 1, 2025.