Bay Area residents may remember the summer of 2010 for cooler than usual weather.
Customers are scooping up Clipper cards at the rate of 10,000 a week at vendors and at launch events like this one. Photo by Noah Berger
By John Goodwin
Published: October, 2010
Muni already has begun phasing out its paper “A” Fast Pass® (which allows unlimited rides on Muni and BART within San Francisco during a single month) and is scheduled to retire its Muni-only “M” Fast Pass® next spring. BART has started shifting its EZ Rider customers to the Clipper card, and AC Transit will stop sales of its Local Adult 10-Ride and 31-Day tickets, as well as its 10-Ride Youth/Senior/Disabled tickets, at the end of this month. Caltrain is scheduled to begin making its monthly and eight-ride passes available exclusively on Clipper cards in early 2011.
Golden Gate Ferry vessels boast the highest Clipper market penetration, with more than half of all passengers using Clipper for fare payment. Meanwhile, San Francisco Muni, which carries by far the most transit passengers in the Bay Area, is registering the largest number of daily Clipper boardings. Muni accounted for an average of 65,525 daily Clipper boardings during the week ending Sept. 17. Muni is nearing completion of a year-long project to replace aging fare gates throughout its Muni Metro station network with new gates that will only accept Clipper cards. The roughly $29 million initiative includes the installation of new ticket vending machines, through which customers can purchase new Clipper cards or add value to an existing card.
Muni’s region-leading Clipper usage numbers are followed by BART with 44,175 weekday boardings, and AC Transit with an average of 28,075 Clipper boardings each weekday. Smaller numbers of passengers used Clipper cards to board Golden Gate Transit & Ferry, Caltrain and Dumbarton Express vehicles.
“The rapid growth in Clipper usage has exceeded our expectations,” said Andrew Fremier, deputy executive director for operations for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which is spearheading the electronic fare-payment program. “That’s a good thing, but it has also brought some growing pains. We are dealing with those, and we’re confident that once customers experience the convenience of having all their transit tickets, transit cash and transfers on one card, they’re going to like Clipper and stick with us.”
MTC is working with participating transit agencies and with program contractor Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. to troubleshoot technical issues and improve customer service. The Clipper Service Bureau has added more than 20 customer service representatives in recent weeks.
“The usage numbers make it clear that Clipper is a very good system,” continued Fremier. “And we’re making it better every day.”
The six transit systems currently offering Clipper fare payment — San Francisco Muni, BART, AC Transit, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit & Ferry and Dumbarton Express — together carry more than 80 percent of all Bay Area transit passengers. Once SamTrans and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) begin accepting Clipper cards for fare payment throughout their route and station networks later this year, 95 percent of the region’s transit riders will be served by Clipper.
Where to Get Clipper
Riders can get a free Clipper card, add electronic value that is accepted on all transit systems, or add a monthly pass for a specific agency online at www.clippercard.com, by phone (1-877-878-8883) or TDD/TTY (711 or 1-800-735-2929), at select transit agency ticket offices, or at more than 200 participating retail locations — including the transit kiosk in the Embarcadero BART/Muni station, the Bay Crossings store in the Ferry Building and scores of Walgreens around the Bay Area. In addition to an Autoload option, Clipper also offers card replacement and balance restoration for customers who register cards that later end up lost or damaged. Registration is free and can be completed easily online, over the phone or by mail.
All photos by Noah Berger
