Commission Gets Fresh Update on Next-Generation Clipper Transition

MTC Commissioners today received an update on the continuing transition of the Bay Area’s Clipper® electronic transit-fare payment system from the card-based platform in use since 2010 to a new cloud-based system known as next-generation Clipper. More than 2.3 million Clipper cards have now transferred to the new system, and an average of 280,000 daily customers are accessing new discounts and features as a result of the upgraded system.

For the week ending July 18, the next-generation platform handled 53% of all transit trips processed by the Clipper system. This total includes 37% of all fares paid with either traditional plastic Clipper cards or on mobile Clipper cards plus another 16% by customers using a contactless credit or debit card. In that same week, an average of 79,000 trips on Bay Area buses, ferries and trains each day were paid for via contactless credit or debit card. 

In addition to accepting contactless bank cards for payment, the next-generation Clipper system delivers discounts to riders who use more than one transit agency for a trip (e.g., transferring from Muni to Caltrain or SMART to Golden Gate Ferry). These customers are only charged full fare for the first ride. A transfer discount of up to $2.85 applies on any additional transit agency the rider uses within two hours. As of July 2, more than 580,000 people have used the next-generation Clipper system to claim over 3 million discounts totaling more than $7 million. This equates to an average of $12 in savings per rider to date.

Making these discounts available to more Clipper customers has been slowed by reliability, equipment and other defects in the next-generation system. Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., the San Diego-based firm with which MTC contracts to operate the Clipper system, is working to resolve the remaining issues so more than 10 million existing Clipper cards can be migrated to the next-generation platform.

"A transition that originally was expected to last no more than three months is now coming up on seven months,” acknowledged MTC Executive Director Andrew Fremier. “Our staff and our commissioners take this delay very seriously. We'll continue to work with our transit agency partners to hold Cubic accountable for full deployment of a reliable, modern Clipper system."

“It’s important to remind folks that both the original Clipper system and the next-generation system are collecting revenue for the transit agencies,” noted Fremier. “The new platform is steadily getting bigger, better and more robust. Our number one priority right now is providing strong project management to resolve all remaining problems as quickly as possible. MTC, the contractor and the transit agencies are all working together to make a good service better.”