Clipper 2.0 Delayed - Will Free Transfers Still Roll Out in 2023?

The planned upgrade of infrastructure to support Clipper, the region’s regional fare card system,  is being delayed by a year, which could impact when riders get to experience the benefits of free and reduced price transfers. 

Whereas the upgraded Clipper 2.0 system was supposed to be in place by late 2023, it now won’t be fully in place until 2024, according to MTC staff at the Clipper Executive Board meeting on November 21. Free and reduced price transfers - a key recommendation of the region’s Fare Integration study that is estimated to generate approximately 25,000 new transit trips per day - were supposed to be deployed simultaneously to the upgrade to Clipper 2.0. 

To date, staff have reported that it would be too difficult and costly to implement free and reduced price transfers on the current generation of Clipper, or “Clipper 1.0” as it is sometimes called. 

Causes of delayed deployment of Clipper 2.0 include the global chip shortage triggered by the pandemic, and staffing challenges slowing system testing. So far, only 12% of new Clipper readers have been installed on buses, although 85% of readers have been installed at platforms (trains, ferries, bus rapid transit platforms) and the platform installation is expected to be complete this year.

Due to many transit agencies’ keenness for proceeding with free and reduced price transfers as a key ridership recovery strategy, MTC and agency staff are now working with the contractor, Cubic, to assess whether it would be feasible to implement free and reduced price interagency systems using the current Clipper 1.0 system, on the original proposed time frame of late 2023. This could cause an extension to the overall Clipper 2.0 schedule but would deliver key discounts to riders sooner.

Also, when Clipper 2.0 rolls out in 2024, riders will be able to simply tap their credit or debit card on a fare card reader when getting on a bus or going through a fare gate to pay for transit. MTC has recently announced that this feature, called “open payments” will also give riders free and reduced price transfers, so that riders who opt to use their credit card will effectively pay the same price as riders who use Clipper. This is a welcome development for riders - in the original project plan, free transfers would have been available only using Clipper cards, but MTC negotiated this change with Cubic so that riders get the same price, whatever form of electronic payment they want to use.

Executive Director McMillan called free transfers the “marquee rider-facing improvement” of the region’s Transit Transformation Action Plan, but also emphasized the importance of a smooth rollout. 

The experience of paying for transit with an existing Clipper Card won’t change for riders as the new system rolls out. But instead of rolling out all at once, the Clipper 2.0 system will be made available agency by agency. The next-generation Clipper system will come with better customer support including online applications for youth and senior cards, and live chat with customer service representatives. 

As the transit system gradually regrows ridership and agencies struggle with a “fiscal cliff”, it is important to make improvements that make transit more convenient and easy to use. So we hope and encourage the rollout of free and reduced price transfers in 2023, but also wish to see timely implementation of Clipper 2.0 so that riders can begin using a credit card and debit card to pay for transit.