#clipper-card — Public Fediverse posts

Burned down my remaining #clippercard accounts today. Their account migration (new IT system) was a s&*tshow. Have been a customer since early transitlink beta program and sad to see it die. Fittingly the refund process involves paper, stamp, a $5 fee per card and a 30 day refund process. Also notably a defense contractor from San Diego (#cubictransportationsystems) that is responsible. The had half a billion dollars to "upgrade" clipper and seem to have largely killed it. The bay area #mtc not far behind. Living the dream in the center of the modern tech revolution. We have state of the art biotech breakthroughs, birthed modern AI and can't add balance to our bus passes..

https://www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2026/3/18/learning-from-the-clipper-2-launch-problems

Burned down my remaining #clippercard accounts today. Their account migration (new IT system) was a s&*tshow. Have been a customer since early transitlink beta program and sad to see it die. Fittingly the refund process involves paper, stamp, a $5 fee per card and a 30 day refund process. Also notably a defense contractor from San Diego (#cubictransportationsystems) that is responsible. The had half a billion dollars to "upgrade" clipper and seem to have largely killed it. The bay area #mtc not far behind. Living the dream in the center of the modern tech revolution. We have state of the art biotech breakthroughs, birthed modern AI and can't add balance to our bus passes..

https://www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2026/3/18/learning-from-the-clipper-2-launch-problems

#clippercard the joy continues. Friday „migration to new account“ broke everything it could. I have two cards now not one. The „working one“ with funding attached to apple pay is attached to „some other account“ and I have a strange legacy one not attached to apple pay so I can’t use it. Funny thing was that I was trying to troubleshoot kids account which ended up just like this, and I logged in to check my account and started this journey. I say f#%k clipper.

#clippercard the joy continues. Friday „migration to new account“ broke everything it could. I have two cards now not one. The „working one“ with funding attached to apple pay is attached to „some other account“ and I have a strange legacy one not attached to apple pay so I can’t use it. Funny thing was that I was trying to troubleshoot kids account which ended up just like this, and I logged in to check my account and started this journey. I say f#%k clipper.

There is IT incompetence and then clipper card is a whole level of awful further down. I triggered their account migration workflow and 45 mins later I’m so locked out I can’t even mail customer support because I need to be logged in to contact them. Their locked out message says contact customer support #clippercard

There is IT incompetence and then clipper card is a whole level of awful further down. I triggered their account migration workflow and 45 mins later I’m so locked out I can’t even mail customer support because I need to be logged in to contact them. Their locked out message says contact customer support #clippercard

My growing retired-transit-card collection

A year ago, this week’s work trip to the Bay Area would have meant breaking out the oldest computer that I was still using with any regularity at the time: the Clipper card that I bought in June of 2012 to pay for fares on BART, Muni and other transit agencies around San Francisco.

But this year, I could leave that NFC-enabled smart card in the little holder in which I store my other stored-value transit cards and instead tap my phone to pay with my business credit card for each ride–first a SamTrans bus from SFO to Millbrae, then Caltrain to San Jose for TechEx North America, then two days of commuting up and down the peninsula for Google I/O.

BART started accepting contactless payments last August, and now all the Bay Area transit services that accept Clipper cards also let you tap to pay with a phone, a smartwatch or a credit or debit card with an NFC chip.

Whether you call it “tap to pay,” “open payments” or “open loop,” letting people pay for a fare as if it were any other on-the-go purchase is a great advance for transit. Especially for out-of-towners, as I realized years ago when visiting Chicago and Portland and appreciating the early lead of their transit services in this key bit of CX.

A growing array of agencies across the U.S. have finally wised up to this after years of requiring people to buy proprietary stored-value cards, install agency-specific apps or make a throwback cash payment: Metro, NYC’s MTA, the T in Boston, NJ Transit buses and light rail, SEPTA around Philadelphia, MARTA in Atlanta, and the Seattle region’s Sound Transit, among many others.

L.A.’s Metro has been a high-profile laggard–a personally inconvenient one since my TAP card expired last year. But this week users have begun reporting success on Reddit and in Bluesky posts with using their phones and credit cards to cover train and bus fares now that Metro there seems to have begun a soft launch of what it calls “TAP Plus.”

As I’ve spent down the balance on transit cards I no longer need, the ones that I still need to use are now most entirely confined to agencies in other countries. Some examples: I love Barcelona’s Metro but I don’t love how it doesn’t support tap to pay; Doha’s driverless metro is a technological marvel but also requires its own colorful card; Vancouver’s Compass Card offers enough of a discount over tap-to-pay rates (because that city didn’t follow Toronto’s fare-neutral example) that I picked up one for last year’s Web Summit conference there and used it again for this year’s event.

But there is one awkward exception right in my neighborhood: Arlington Transit, which continues to require the SmarTrip card that WMATA rolled out in 1999. So while I can pay for Metro like it’s the 21st century, I still have to keep my well-worn SmarTrip card handy in case an ART bus rolls up before a Metro bus does.

My growing retired-transit-card collection

A year ago, this week’s work trip to the Bay Area would have meant breaking out the oldest computer that I was still using with any regularity at the time: the Clipper card that I bought in June of 2012 to pay for fares on BART, Muni and other transit agencies around San Francisco.

But this year, I could leave that NFC-enabled smart card in the little holder in which I store my other stored-value transit cards and instead tap my phone to pay with my business credit card for each ride–first a SamTrans bus from SFO to Millbrae, then Caltrain to San Jose for TechEx North America, then two days of commuting up and down the peninsula for Google I/O.

BART started accepting contactless payments last August, and now all the Bay Area transit services that accept Clipper cards also let you tap to pay with a phone, a smartwatch or a credit or debit card with an NFC chip.

Whether you call it “tap to pay,” “open payments” or “open loop,” letting people pay for a fare as if it were any other on-the-go purchase is a great advance for transit. Especially for out-of-towners, as I realized years ago when visiting Chicago and Portland and appreciating the early lead of their transit services in this key bit of CX.

A growing array of agencies across the U.S. have finally wised up to this after years of requiring people to buy proprietary stored-value cards, install agency-specific apps or make a throwback cash payment: Metro, NYC’s MTA, the T in Boston, NJ Transit buses and light rail, SEPTA around Philadelphia, MARTA in Atlanta, and the Seattle region’s Sound Transit, among many others.

L.A.’s Metro has been a high-profile laggard–a personally inconvenient one since my TAP card expired last year. But this week users have begun reporting success on Reddit and in Bluesky posts with using their phones and credit cards to cover train and bus fares now that Metro there seems to have begun a soft launch of what it calls “TAP Plus.”

As I’ve spent down the balance on transit cards I no longer need, the ones that I still need to use are now most entirely confined to agencies in other countries. Some examples: I love Barcelona’s Metro but I don’t love how it doesn’t support tap to pay; Doha’s driverless metro is a technological marvel but also requires its own colorful card; Vancouver’s Compass Card offers enough of a discount over tap-to-pay rates (because that city didn’t follow Toronto’s fare-neutral example) that I picked up one for last year’s Web Summit conference there and used it again for this year’s event.

But there is one awkward exception right in my neighborhood: Arlington Transit, which continues to require the SmarTrip card that WMATA rolled out in 1999. So while I can pay for Metro like it’s the 21st century, I still have to keep my well-worn SmarTrip card handy in case an ART bus rolls up before a Metro bus does.

It turns out that #ClipperCard also commit silly bugs

> ${paramMap.get($authRefNbrVar)}

It turns out that #ClipperCard also commit silly bugs

> ${paramMap.get($authRefNbrVar)}

@dev Agree. My #VTA + #BART + #ACTransit route used to be $8.55 on my #clippercard , now it's $3.70. Not sure how this math / finance works out.

I did read that the current discount is up for review in approx 18-24 months.

@dev Agree. My #VTA + #BART + #ACTransit route used to be $8.55 on my #clippercard , now it's $3.70. Not sure how this math / finance works out.

I did read that the current discount is up for review in approx 18-24 months.

After #BART opened up direct credit card payments at fare gates, after decades of clumsy #fare payment mgmt features, new generation of mass #transit fare #ClipperCard coming to #BayArea Dec 10th.

Clumsily managed monopolist service provider claims using their new improved Clipper 2.0 card could save service connecting upgraded users money, speed up ridiculous 3 day wait to transfer fare fund$ to card, and ease managing multiple card member accounts...

https://www.kqed.org/news/12065714/clipper-card-new-bart-caltrain-login-next-generation-discounts

Today, I picked up my pensioner pass from #ACTransit. One of the benefits of retirement from AC Transit is free bus rides.

To get there, I caught the day’s last #actransit Line 800 to transfer to BART. It was the last AC Transit trip I’ll ever have to pay for (at least for myself). It was on one of the last Van Hool buses still in operation, one of the 60-foot articulated models.

I rode BART to downtown Oakland where the AC Transit office is. I picked up my pass. I also picked up a youth Clipper card for my daughter, who just became old enough to have to pay for transit.

#ClipperCard #PublicTransportation #Transit

Holy shit. With the state of public transit payments, it's a freaking wonder anyone rides. I am hanging so much trouble with the fucking Clipper app today, and don't really want to wait for the 67 people ahead of me in the phone queue. #ClipperCard

Holy shit. With the state of public transit payments, it's a freaking wonder anyone rides. I am hanging so much trouble with the fucking Clipper app today, and don't really want to wait for the 67 people ahead of me in the phone queue. #ClipperCard

What happened to paying Bay Area #bridge #tolls with #Clippercard?? Jeez, that would have been convenient…

Bay Area transit officials slam nearly 700-day delay of Clipper 2.0 rollout. Riders deserve better. New launch expected late August. #BayAreaTransit #ClipperCard #PublicTransit
🔗 https://thevoicesf.org/bay-area-transit-officials-slam-clipper-2-0-delays-say-bay-area-deserves-better/

This is the part I cry in #ClipperCard for the week

This is the part I cry in #ClipperCard for the week

For all you #SFBA folks, has anyone had trouble transferring their virtual clipper cards to a new phone?

Luckily I still have one physical one for guests because both of my virtual ones are not working on new phone #clippercard #ACtransit #SFmuni

For all you #SFBA folks, has anyone had trouble transferring their virtual clipper cards to a new phone?

Luckily I still have one physical one for guests because both of my virtual ones are not working on new phone #clippercard #ACtransit #SFmuni

For people who use a #clippercard for #bart or #ACtransit or whatever...

Am I reading the fine print right that once I paid online to "add value" onto the card, the reason I can't see if it made it onto the card is because the funds aren't actually added until I tag in?

That seems... ridiculous. So I can't check to see if it worked till I get there and am in a hurry?

For people who use a #clippercard for #bart or #ACtransit or whatever...

Am I reading the fine print right that once I paid online to "add value" onto the card, the reason I can't see if it made it onto the card is because the funds aren't actually added until I tag in?

That seems... ridiculous. So I can't check to see if it worked till I get there and am in a hurry?