Clipper® Transit-Fare Payment System to Add East Bay, Sonoma County Bus Operators
OAKLAND, CA — The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)’s Operations Committee today paved the way for expansion of the popular Clipper program by the end of 2015 to the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (WHEELS) bus network in Alameda County and the County Connection, WestCAT and Tri-Delta Transit bus systems in Contra Costa County; and by the spring of 2016 to the Santa Rosa City Bus, Sonoma County Transit, Cloverdale Transit, Petaluma Transit and Healdsburg Transit systems in Sonoma County.
“Transit riders who use County Connection and the region’s other small suburban transit agencies have long been looking forward to enjoying the same convenience and security that Clipper already provides for passengers on BART, Muni, AC Transit and our other large operators,” said MTC Chair Amy Rein Worth, who also serves as an Orinda city councilmember. “This will eliminate the hassles of transferring between BART and the local bus services.”
Introduced in June 2010, Clipper is the all-in-one transit card onto which customers can load cash value, passes and tickets. Operators already accepting Clipper cards include San Francisco Muni, BART, AC Transit, Caltrain, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit & Ferry, San Francisco Bay Ferry and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Together, these agencies account for more than 90 percent of the transit trips taken each day in the Bay Area, and Clipper is used for fare payment on nearly half of all transit trips in the region. In addition to the East Bay and Sonoma transit agencies set to join the Clipper network in 2015 and 2016, MTC is working to expand the Clipper system later this year to include Marin Transit in Marin County; Napa VINE in Napa County; the Soltrans, Fairfield-Suisun Transit (FAST), Vacaville City Coach, Rio Vista Delta Breeze and Vacaville City Coach bus systems in Solano County; and San Francisco Bay Ferry’s Vallejo-to-San Francisco route.
MTC, which manages the Clipper program, is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Contact:
John Goodwin, MTC: (415) 778-5262