Clipper 2.0 rollout expected for late 2024 with credit/debit card payment and free transfers
Bay Area transit riders will be able to pay fares with credit and debit cards by 2024 with the rollout of Clipper Next Generation.
The anticipated rollout is for August of next year, according to a MTC staff presentation at the September Regional Network Management Committee (RNM) meeting.
In its current iteration, Clipper is a “closed-payment system.” Users can upload money into Clipper and it can only be used for transit fares. Compare this to an “open-payment system” where fares can be paid with digital payments or physical debit and credit cards. Clipper 2.0 was originally scheduled to be deployed in late 2023, but was delayed in part due to a global chip shortage and staffing challenges.
Originally launched under the branding “TransLink” in 2002, the Bay Area’s contactless smart card was rebranded “Clipper” in 2010 (Source). As of now, 24 agencies accept Clipper. Every month there are 4 million active Clipper accounts, 10 million individual taps, and $24 million in fares collected (Source).
Both riders and transit agencies stand to reap benefits from open-payment systems. Open-payment reduces the barriers to first-time and infrequent users choosing transit, enables quicker boarding times, reduces travel times, and can help make transit more accessible to low-income riders who may not want to pre-load money onto transit-only cards. All these benefits serve to make transit a more compelling travel option.
With open payment riders don’t have to worry about pre-loading funds into their Clipper Card to hop on transit, making navigating the system more convenient and seamless.
Additionally, open payment is especially useful for tourists and visitors to the region. People disembarking from their flights in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose airports won’t need to scramble to purchase physical or digital Clipper Cards. Instead, they can easily tap their credit or debit cards to hop on a train or bus. Likewise, this will provide an easy experience for people heading to a sports game or entertainment who want to try transit. This customer-facing improvement also benefits intercity transit riders, such as on Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin routes, many of whom take Bay Area transit for last-mile connections.
Outside of the Bay Area cities like Chicago, Vancouver, Portland, London, New York City have all adopted open-payment systems. This year, the Netherlands even adopted a nation-wide contactless payment system for its transportation network.
The first phase of Clipper’s open-payment system was implemented when mobile Clipper Cards rolled out on Google and Apple devices in 2021. Now, around 30% of Clipper trips are taken using the mobile card, according to Kuester. MTC is currently testing Clipper Next Generation’s back-end software and is gearing up to start the transition pilot test.
Since its debut in early 2021, 1.9 million mobile Clipper Cards have been activated in Apple and Google wallets through June 2023 (Source).
Free and reduced price transfers
Importantly, credit and debit card users will be eligible to receive the same free/reduced transfer between operators that will be available to Clipper Card users. As we blogged earlier, currently there aren’t consistent fare discounts between operators, and riders are often penalized with extra charges for making a transfer. The launch of Clipper 2.0 will implement the plan for free and reduced priced transfers - a key recommendation of the fare integration task force. In other words - if all goes as planned, beginning in August 2024, riders will experience free transfers, whether they are using their Clipper card or their debit or credit card.
Agency fare capping policies will also apply to credit and debit card users, according to Carol Kuester, MTC Director of Electronic Payments, who presented at the September meeting.
“Right now Clipper exemplifies regional transit coordination and includes a variety of features that our customers find very easy to use,” said Kuester.
Another welcome change with Clipper 2.0 is that any paratransit qualified rider will automatically be eligible for RTC discount cards, helping reduce the administrative burden for people with disabilities.
Senior and disability discounts, however, will not be available for credit and debit card users at launch. RNM Committee Members Carol Dutra-Vernaci, who used the senior Clipper Card discount, and Dorene Giacopini pressed the issues during the meeting.
“We’ll need to dig more with the transit operators and fare integration task force folks into the pros and cons of extending contactless, open payment options to discount categories,” Kuester stated.
Open payment efforts at the state-level under Cal-ITP may help resolve these problems and we’ll have a blog post on that development in the near future.