Getting around the Bay Area by transit is about to become simpler, cheaper, and more convenient. Starting December 10, transit agencies are rolling out Clipper 2.0, upgrading the decades-old Clipper Card with a modern and effective fare payment system.
What you need to know
Clipper 2.0 comes with many benefits, two stand out:
- Free (up to $2.85 off) transfers between agencies: each time you transfer to another transit agency, the second tap will give a discount equivalent to a bus fare
- Credit/debit card payment: riders will be able to pay for transit with their contactless credit or debit card, Apple Pay or Google Wallet. This is especially useful for travellers and occasional riders who won’t have to dig their Clipper out of a drawer
Riders who use employee transit benefits, monthly passes, and BART High Volume Discount tickets will still need to use a physical Clipper card.
Free transfers?!
That’s right: If you take Muni to BART or Caltrain, that train trip will get a $2.85 discount to reflect the fare you just paid for your bus. If you take one bus to another bus, say, Muni to SamTrans, the SamTrans trip is free.
This is revolutionary for riders: no more fare penalty for living just a little bit too far away from BART or Caltrain. For example, a rider taking Vine Transit to BART to Muni can save on a one-way trip from Oakland to San Francisco.
Transbay Coalition and Seamless Bay Area have put together a Clipper 2.0 Savings Calculator to help you learn how much you can save on your commutes or other trips that use multiple agencies.
How can I get these benefits?
Clipper 2.0 launches on December 10th. On that day, you’ll be able to start using your credit or debit card to pay adult fares for transit, and get free transfers with it. Clipper users with Youth, Senior/RTC, and START cards will have their cards automatically upgraded within the first 1-2 weeks, and every Clipper user will have their card upgraded within 8-12 weeks.
If you don’t want to wait, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission says the Clipper Card website will be upgraded with a feature to request your card be updated as soon as possible.
To be notified when you can request a Clipper 2.0 upgrade, sign up for the Seamless Bay Area and Transbay Coalition mailing list, where we’ll let you know as soon as it launches!
What’s left to be done
Unfortunately, the benefits are not yet equally distributed. Contactless payments means that people paying Adult fares no longer need to keep a balance on their Clipper cards. But when Clipper 2.0 rolls out, people eligible for Youth, Senior/RTC, or START discounts cannot yet get these discounts when paying with a credit/debit card. MTC has said they plan to offer the ability to link your credit/debit card to your discount, but do not yet have a schedule date for this.
This means that the most financially precarious populations will be left storing their limited income on their Clipper cards, while others benefit from not having to do so. Other contactless payment systems around the state already allow riders to link their credit and debit cards to get their discount directly. For more about how Clipper 2.0 falls short of the equity and fairness that we need now more than ever, read Transform’s new report on Fair and Accessible Fares.