Clipper Card Coming to Apple Pay and Google Pay

 

That's right, Akit is out of retirement for just this special story, after more than four years of not blogging.  How are you?  I've been doing well; in the last four years, I've got a job promotion with a decent pay raise, and I've been working remotely from home for nearly a year due to this virus.  Hoping I can get the vaccine in the coming weeks and eventually return to in-office work.

If you read the blog entry title, the Clipper card will be available with Apple and Google Pay starting Spring 2021.  If you want to read the articles, see the Apple Pay article and Google Pay article.

For you very long time loyal readers, I've been blogging about the Clipper card, and it's former name, the TransLink card for such a long time.  Since not much has changed, I can help provide some insight in what your mobile phone wallet will do for you.  However, since I own an iPhone and Apple watch, information about how Google Wallet may be limited.

Want to sign-up for an email notification when Clipper is ready for Apple Pay?  Click here to go to Apple's website to register.

Let's look at the benefits and features that will come with Clipper Card on Apple Pay:

1. No more carrying a plastic card with you.
2. For Apple users, it will be available on Apple Watch and iPhone.
3. Express Transit will be supported on Apple Pay.  What this means, there is no need to open your Apple wallet on your phone or watch.  Just tap the phone or watch on the reader and it will automatically open the app and scan.  But it does require you to activate this feature on your wallet's settings.  One thing to note, if you just restarted your phone or just put your watch on, you need to authenticate yourself with your passcode to have the Express Transit feature on standby for your next ride.
4. Express Transit also works if you are in power reserve mode, but only on iPhone.  Power reserve mode is when your phone shuts down due to low battery, but will function as your Clipper card for up to five hours until you can recharge your phone.

Here's some possible features that may come with the Clipper Card, but this comes from learning about how this works from reading and watching videos about the Suica card which is used in the Tokyo, and WMATA's SmarTrip card used in the Washington D.C. area:

1. You can add cash funds or possibly passes by purchasing them on your phone, and would be available for instant use.  There would be no need to reload your virtual card at a ticket vending machine, such as at all BART stations, or visit a Walgreens or retail store.
2. You will be able to transfer your blue plastic card's data, cash purse, passes, etc. to your virtual wallet by allowing your phone to scan your card.

We've seen the benefits, now the problems:

1. You can only add your Clipper card to one device, either your iPhone or Apple Watch, not both.  You can have it on both, if you have separate cards.  Hard choice, phone or watch?
2. If the ability to transfer your plastic card's data to your mobile device is allowed, once transferred, your plastic card is void.  You cannot use both the mobile wallet and plastic card. Please note, this is coming from the SmarTrip website; I would assume it will happen to plastic Clipper cards once migrated to your phone or watch.
3. If your card needs to be read by a fare inspector or any person who uses a handheld reader, such as a cable car conductor, Express Transit feature on Apple Pay won't work; you'll need to open up your Apple wallet on the device you have your card on.
4. The Commuter Check debit card is not supported on Apple Pay because I just tried adding it.  Unless if Clipper has a separate app that someone can manually enter their card number, you may not be able to reload Clipper card purse funds or buy passes using the commuter benefits card via your phone; you would have to do it at a vending machine or retail store.
5. If your watch or phone is dead or if you have a battery that isn't holding its charge, maybe stick to your plastic card.  Non functioning devices means no working Clipper card.
6. If you ride Muni occasionally, take at least two rides, and don't ride the cable cars (and they are not operating due to COVID), it's better to use Muni Mobile's day pass for $5, as a single ride on Clipper and Muni Mobile is $2.50.  Clipper cards don't have the $5 pass available to purchase.
7. It is unknown if you can migrate your SF State ID card with Clipper (for the Gator Pass) to your phone.  It is also unknown if you can migrate a Senior card, RTC discount card, and other discounted cards to Apple and Google Pay.
8. One last thing, it's highly unlikely that contactless credit and debit cards, including Apple and Google Pay credit/debit cards will be accepted on Clipper.  The major weakness of the Clipper card system is that all card readers on buses are not connected through cellular service 24/7 to verify if the card is legit or stolen.  Clipper and formerly TransLink has been in use for nearly 20 years.  There's planned 2.0 upgrade coming in the future.

Okay, what would Akit do?  I have the blue plastic adult Clipper card, iPhone, Apple Watch, and a commuter debit card. (Remember, you may not be able to have the same card on the iPhone AND Watch)

• My option would likely be my Apple Watch.  Especially since face masks aren't friendly with Face ID on iPhone, Apple Watch seems to be the easiest choice, I can just tap the watch over the reader.  Although, in the case of Muni metro and BART gates, my watch is on my left wrist, so I'll have to move my arm over to scan it.  I would also activate Express Transit so I don't have to open up the wallet on the watch and scroll to the Clipper card.
• A possible problem is using my commuter debit card as a funding source to reload my virtual Clipper card, since my debit card can't be added to my Apple wallet.  Hoping they will have a new Clipper card app that lets me add funds by manually adding a commuter benefits card.
• For longer day trips within San Francisco, I would not use Clipper, and instead use Muni Mobile for their $5 day passes (no cable cars) or $13 one day passport that includes cable cars.
• Cool tip: Once cable cars resumes service, it's $8 for a single ride.  Two cable car rides costs more than an all day unlimited Muni Mobile one day passport good for all the cable cars, buses, light rail, and historic streetcars you want.

Want to see how a contactless transit card works?  Watch this video of the Suica card on Apple Pay is being used at a fare gate at a train station in Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNzi5b1Rsxc&feature=youtu.be

UPDATE: Clipper Refunding Passengers Who Experienced Failed Pass Load

If you are a victim of a failed automatic loading of your monthly pass to your Clipper card and you were forced to pay e-cash for your Caltrain ride, the folks at Clipper just released this announcement:

WageWorks Update: Refunds have been issued to cards that were charged a cash fare on Monday when they should have received a Caltrain pass.
— Bay Area Clipper (@BayAreaClipper) July 3, 2013

Thank you for the good gesture Clipper.

If you want to prevent this type of mess from happening again, learn about other great options to load your passes here.

New Caltrain Conductor Clipper Card Readers Will be Able to Deduct Fares

Clipper on Caltrain... it's way out of control.  I've mentioned in the past of my proposal to kill 8-rides, in favor of giving all passengers an equivalent 15% fare discount to all Clipper users by simply paying with e-cash stored on their card.  If Golden Gate Transit and Ferry can eliminate paper discount ticket books and give the same discount by using their Clipper card with e-cash, so can Caltrain.

Frustrations with Caltrain
For you Caltrain passengers, ever had that frustration with a broken card reader or you just forgot to scan your card?  I know that some of you have been issued a fare evasion citation and you've had to face a court hearing, and that can be really annoying.  That's because the Caltrain conductor's portable Clipper card reader can only read cards, and cannot deduct fares or activate passes/8-rides.

Our friends at the defacto Clipper card Board of Directors (MTC's Operations Committee) is about to make Caltrain passengers just a little more happy.  They plan to meet on Friday, June 14th (agenda) to approve a bunch of contract actions costing a ton of cash, but the one for Caltrain is the most exciting.

Ooooh, ahhhh!
On the first page of agenda item 4c (PDF), the Board intends to spend up to $575,000 on new portable Clipper card readers for Caltrain.  These new card readers for conductors and fare inspectors will also have the ability to deduct fare from a customer who forgot to tag their card in the morning.  The document also mentions that the new devices could also be used for those passengers with disabilities who are unable to reach a platform Clipper card reader as they are not always easily accessible.

Akit's Opinions
So if the MTC approves this expense and Caltrain gets these new devices, will that mean the number of fare evasion citations will go down for those with Clipper cards?  I think it's a great idea to help passengers, instead of kicking them off trains, or writing an expensive citation and being forced to visit a Superior Court judge.

I'm hoping passengers will still tag their card at the station platform card readers, instead of making the conductor do it, or riders take a risk for a free ride by not tagging the card and hoping the conductor doesn't do a sweep.  But even if the conductor does a sweep, the fare would be deducted.

There is the possibility that someday Caltrain may charge a higher fare for those whose Caltrain fares are deducted from the conductor's reader in order to discourage cheaters.  The Long Island Railroad does this to their passengers who pays the conductor, instead of a station's ticketing machine.

Clipper Card Improvements to Caltrain and Installation on Marin Transit

It's that time of the month again when the defacto Clipper card board of directors spends money on things YOU want for your Clipper card.  The Operations Committee of the MTC meets on Friday, May 10th at 9:35AM (agenda here).

A lot of the material is all contract renewals, such as the operation of Clipper customer service offices/desks at Embarcadero station, but here's the two things you should know:

1. $425,000 to help fund to have Clipper card equipment installed on Marin Transit buses.  Marin Transit will also help pay for the installation of the equipment on their vehicles.
2. $150,000 will be spent on an adjustment to the Clipper card readers at all Caltrain stations.  The Clipper card readers emit the same tone when you tag-on and tag-off, but due to complaints of people being confused, including those with limited visibility, the modification will be a different sound tone being emitted when you tag-off.  For example, you'll hear "beep!" when tagging-on, and "boop!" when tagging-off.

In other meeting notes, the board will hear a presentation on customer service for Clipper.  They've already made some improvements, such as upgrading the website and making the automated phone system easier to use.  The goal for this summer is to have a mobile friendly website up and running.

Akit's Opinions
Not a bad set of goals.  The need to expand Clipper to the smaller agencies is still in the works, but it seems the progress is just slow.  When are they ever going to get Clipper ready for the Vallejo ferry, or how about the Tiburon service Blue & Gold provides?

I do feel the adjustment to the Caltrain readers is much needed, but I'm still hoping they will one day have all the ticketing machines be able to add Clipper value and finally end that stupid 8-ride for an across the board equivalent 20% discount on single ride fares.

Simple Tips on Taking Public Transit to Giants World Series Parade

This Wednesday at 11AM is going to be a great day for San Francisco when everyone is getting Halloween candy and watching the San Francisco Giants at the World Series ticker tape parade.

If you plan to go to the parade, are you prepared to take public transportation?  Taking your car into downtown SF is going to be the worst idea ever with traffic, tons of people, and limited parking.

Public transit is your BEST option!  At the 2010 World Series parade, tons of people took Muni, BART, Caltrain, and the ferries to get to the city to watch our team celebrate, now it's 2012 and tens of thousands of fans will flood the city again.

Being prepared is the best way to make it through public transportation.  Here's my simple tips on how be ready:

1. If you ride BART, buy your round-trip BART ticket TODAY.  Do it on Wednesday and wait in a long line for a ticket.  By having a ticket ready for entry, you can get through the gates quicker.
2. If you ride Golden Gate Ferry, you can also purchase your round-trip ferry fare early by visiting one of the Golden Gate ticket machines at the terminals.
3. For other transit agencies that utilizes cash fares, make sure you carry enough dollar bills and coins to cover your rides.  Nobody likes people who holds up a bus when they are digging for that remaining quarter in their pocket.
4. If you really need a seat on BART, you may want to take a train going the opposite direction and board the train deeper in their system, such as Richmond station.
5. Parking at stations can be a problem on Wednesday.  Some parking lots allows you to reserve a space, so do your research and be ready.  Many BART stations with parking allows you to pre-pay for parking and you get a reserved parking space.  I suggest you do it.
6. As always, my best tip of all, GET A CLIPPER CARD.  Clipper cards are valid on all the major transit agencies going to San Francisco.  While there's a $3 new card acquisition fee, that will pay off when you don't have to suffer waiting in a ticket machine line; it's like the express pass to getting on that boat, bus, or train.

Clipper, the express pass to skipping waiting in line for tickets.

Opinion: It's Time to Simplify the Clipper Card

One of the big problems with Clipper cards is that all the rules regarding the use of paper passes, transfers, and particular rules for the paper fare medias was transferred to exactly mimic onto Clipper cards. For many of us long time Bay Area residents, we all know about the 3-day grace period with Muni passes, or the 25 cent fee to transfer one time onto AC Transit...

But to tell you the truth, it's way too complicated. Think about it this way, Clipper's programming rules are so complex when someone tags their card, it needs to know if the person rode the same agency recently (e-transfer), rode a partner transit agency (inter agency e-transfer), has a valid pass, has a ride ticket book, or just has e-cash. Clipper had to grandfather all the old rules on the books for decades and now we're paying the price.

Clipper's plan for the smaller agencies (5% of all Bay Area transit ridership) will be to simplify the rules because they've admitted in writing that they made a big fat mistake with grandfathering the old rules and resulted in taking too many years to establish Clipper on all the major agencies.

Here's examples of the complex rules on fare products:

1. Transfers within a same agency: Muni is 90 minutes with unlimited transfers. AC Transit is 25 cent fee upon boarding second bus, must be within 90 minutes of boarding first bus, and only one transfer ride allowed as third ride would be full fare. Golden Gate Transit/Ferry, automatic calculation upon tag-on and tag-off. Samtrans and VTA requires a day pass to be purchased.  All other agencies: No transfer policy.
2. Passes: Muni is monthly with 3-day grace period and various types to also cover local BART service. AC Transit is 31 day pass. Caltrain is monthly pass with two zones or more gives free rides on Samtrans and VTA. VTA and Samtrans has monthly pass with no grace period. Some agencies don't offer passes (e.g. BART and Golden Gate) doesn't offer passes.

The miracle solution would just be one fare can get you everywhere and all transit agencies are combined into one agency, but that's a far fetched dream, yet, would be easy to run Clipper.

Why not just simplify the operating rules for Clipper? My proposal to be used on all agencies:

1. E-cash payment of fares: Stays the same.
2. Ride books/10-Rides/8-Rides/High Value Discount Tickets: Eliminated in favor of a across the board discount for paying in e-cash.
3. Transfers within same agency: Passengers get e-transfer valid for 90 minutes for no fee and good for as many transfers within the window of time. Not necessary on BART and Caltrain because transferring is just waiting on same train platform/station.
4. Passes: No pre-purchasing of passes needed, all passengers pays rides with e-cash and "earns" their pass when reaching a certain e-cash threshold within that monthly period (a.k.a. pass accumulator).
5. Inter-agency transfers: Transferring to any neighbor agency is automatic 25 or 50 cent discount.
6. Inter-agency passes (e.g. Caltrain 2+ zone monthly pass): Old agreements honored.

Muni Considers Ending BART Plus Relationship - Another Nail in the Coffin?

Last week Friday, the SFMTA had a hearing to consider ending Muni's relationship in the BART Plus program.  While this is not yet official, it would still have to go under the Board of Directors for a final vote.

For those of you not familiar with BART Plus, here's how it works:
BART Plus is a combination of a BART ticket with privileges to ride neighboring public transit agencies (a flash pass).  The ticket has varying price points and is sold on a twice monthly basis with the "A" and "B" tickets valid for the first fifteen days and the last fourteen to sixteen days.

Passengers using BART Plus gets some nice perks: The 'last ride' bonus will let passengers with less than enough credit on their BART ticket funds get to ride one last time regardless of how much the fare is; the ticket is returned to the passenger so it can be used as a flash pass.  The flash pass portion is valid with multiple transit agencies as a local fare credit.

AC Transit Killed Their Relationship
The biggest hit to BART Plus was the end of acceptance on AC Transit in 2003; a major connection for BART passengers within the East Bay.  The only discount BART and AC Transit passengers receives today is the 25 cent discount when transferring from BART to AC and vice versa using a Clipper card.

Muni's Relationship is Tender
Muni is one of the busiest transit agencies in the entire Bay Area, especially when comparing the high number of passes sold every month versus other agencies that operates in larger counties.  BART Plus and Muni plays a vital role for passengers to save money while being able to commute just using one ticket.  This is especially true for passengers that may have to ride more than just Muni and BART to get to work by combining everything into one.

But How About Clipper?
BART Plus can never convert to Clipper until all the agencies under the Plus ticket can have Clipper card readers installed, so the old fashioned ticket will still be in existence.  Muni claims that they have to end their relationship because of the agency's goal to end paper passes and convert everything into Clipper.

Akit's Opinion
BART Plus is the first of its kind to be a multi-agency transit pass integrated with BART access.  If you are to compare other agencies with their pass agreements, the second best is Caltrain with their 2+ zone monthly pass giving passengers access to Samtrans and VTA at no extra charge, and an optional discounted Muni pass.  Other agency agreements like Muni's "A" pass only gives Muni passengers access to BART.

It's been the MTC's dream for a Clipper card monthly pass that can access ALL transit agencies for one flat price, but that dream may never come to fruition because of the numerous transit agencies running in the Bay Area.  BART Plus' old agreements makes that dream real for passengers and saves them tons of money to get around the Bay Area with relative ease, even though it's not compatible with the Clipper card.

Ending Muni's relationship will be a major setback for BART Plus.  Losing AC Transit was bad enough, but Muni may kill BART Plus, or at least put another nail in the coffin.  I think Muni's statement about trying to end all paper passes is a bunch of junk; they will make plenty of BART Plus passengers angry and the public knows Muni is being greedy by asking for people to fork over more money.

Why can't we all just get along with each other?  The Bay Area transit agencies should be playing nice with each other with generous transfer and pass agreements making it easier for everyone to ride one agency to another.  Instead, each one wants to be Mr. Tough Guy and force us passengers to pay more.  A lot of the transfer agreements is a bunch of crap; 25 cents here, 50 cents there; it's not much.  Caltrain, Samtrans, and VTA have a really cool transfer agreement for those who rides Caltrain with 2+ zone monthly pass, so why can't other agencies work on an decent agreement that works for their passengers?

Lastly, here's a reason why the Clipper card goes through so much hell and is probably one of the most complicated fare card systems in the entire nation or possibly the world; each individual transit agency has their own fare rules, transfer rules, inter-agency rules, and pass rules that makes it so much more difficult for tourists or possibly the average citizen to understand.  The MTC made one huge mistake: They allowed the Clipper card to absorb the grandfathered rules that makes no sense, such as the 8-ride Caltrain ticket, instead of working on better solutions like changing it to a 10-ride or an across the board 50 cent fare discount whenever you transfer between one agency.

Maybe if transit agencies played nice with each other, they can help get more cars off the road, and with increasing passenger loads, show to the state and federal governments that they need more funding to meet demand so more buses and trains can be operating.

New Clipper Card Fee $3 - How to Not Pay It

Three Generations of Transit Fare Cards

The MTC has announced the Clipper card will no longer be given out for free starting September 1st.  The new card acquisition fee will be $3 in which they claim will be to cover the costs associated with the procurement of the cards.

Why an acquisition fee?
The acquisition fee has been a hotbed of controversy because the MTC originally proposed the card fee to be $5.  But after filing a required report under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, they decided to drop it down to $3.  It was right in the middle for the agency, it didn't heavily impact people that are disadvantaged, but also didn't give out the cards for free.

The other controversy has been the cards have been treated as an item that can be thrown away.  As you may recall, some people who take longer and more costly trips on public transit have been abusing the system by taking advantage of the card's negative balance policy.  A passenger adds very little money to a card with $0 acquisition fee and riding transit that costs more than what was funded to the card; once it goes negative, the passenger just throws the card in the trash.  Because some people abuse the system this way, the MTC and public transit agencies lose a grand total of $700,000 in transit fares and card procurement costs.  One solution being implemented in the future is to force BART passengers to add funds to their Clipper card at the exitfare machines if there's not enough to cover the ride.

$3 fee to be a failure
In my own opinion, the $3 acquisition fee might be able to stop some people from abusing the negative balance policy, but the MTC is still going to lose money from those who can still take advantage of it.

Here's how simple it is.  Assuming BART is out of the picture, the most expensive transit fare is Caltrain at $12.75 one-way from zones one to six.  If Clipper also implemented a $10 minimum e-cash add on per new card, a passenger must pay $13 ($10 e-cash and $3 new card fee).  That means that while the passenger's one-way ride on Caltrain is paid in full, the passenger still has 25 cents left, therefore he/she can ride any other agency (except BART) for just 25 cents and dump the card in the trash.

UPDATE: Oops, I screwed up.  The new card fee doesn't make the e-cash total $13, it's still $10.  Therefore, if a passenger rides the $12.75 Caltrain ride, the passenger dumps their card in the trash after the first use of the card.

As I've just shown, people can still "save" money while transit agencies lose money.

How not to pay the $3 fee
The MTC is advising people to get the fee waived by ordering their card online and enrolling in the autoload program.  But as we all know too well, autoload has problems, just like the recent report of people whose money was loaded back in 2010 never got charged until just days ago.   So who wants to trust the MTC and Clipper on a piece of junk program?

Of course, the other way to avoid the fee is to get your new Clipper card now until September 1st, but how about after September 1st?

There's still a way to avoid the fee and it takes a little ingenuity.  Just obtain your card online, register a credit card under autoload, and as soon as you get your new card, CANCEL AUTOLOAD.  You see, you get a free card registered under your name (protection in case you lose your card), and you dumped autoload like dumping your date after a horrifying dinner.

Talking about dating... Akit's single!  Ladies, want to date a blogger?  :-)

Recent Changes to the Clipper Card for Caltrain, VTA, and South SF Ferry

There's been some new changes with the Clipper card that just started a couple of days ago on July 1st.  I'm skipping on all the fare and pass hikes, and going on the changes in rules governing Clipper.

Here's a summary of what's going on and how it may affect you:

Caltrain
The rail agency raised fares 25 cents per zone, but if you are a one-way fare passenger, you can be immune to the fare hike by simply using the Clipper card to pay for your rides.  If you use it for two rides, you'll save, but if you need a day pass to take three or more rides, you are better off by paying the paper ticket fare as the day pass program is unavailable through Clipper.

For those using 8-ride tickets on Clipper, the expiration has now been reduced to 30 days.

Lastly, passengers can now purchase monthly passes up until the 15th of the month; it used to be the 9th.  For example, for the July pass, you can buy up until July 15th.   Once it's July 16th, the August pass is available.

VTA
The agency has gone full blown Clipper by eliminating all paper monthly passes and going electronic only.  For those who have a local monthly pass and wants to ride an express bus, the passenger must have enough e-cash on their card to pay the difference.  Bus drivers cannot accept a cash payment substitute to compensate for the upgrade.

Day passes can now be earned using Clipper.  When a passenger uses their Clipper card to pay the e-cash fares, once it hits a threshold, the rest of the rides on the agency is free.  One bad problem: If you earn a day pass for local routes, but want to take an express, you don't pay the upgrade fee from your Clipper e-cash purse, you pay the FULL price of the express fare.  My tip: Continue to buy paper local day passes from the driver if you plan to take an express bus later on.

SF Bay Ferry
Formerly known as WETA, the agency recently permitted Clipper card use for the brand new South San Francisco Ferry route.  Passengers will need to tag-on and tag-off on this route because the agency is going to expand Clipper to other routes based out of Oakland and Alameda, and by tagging-off, the fare will be properly calculated.

Refunds for Caltrain passengers:
If you rode Caltrain between April 10th to the 16th and used Clipper card readers at San Francisco's 4th & King, or the San Mateo stations, you may be obligated to receive a refund.  The card readers overcharged passengers using the system.

Clipper should have issued refunds starting June 22nd, and the refunds are done by tagging your card.  Check your online records via the Clipper website for more information.  For more information about the refunds being issued, click here.

Warriors Coming to SF - Expect Muni Nightmares

There's now word from the city the Golden State Warriors will have their new home at Piers 30/32 here in San Francisco and be open in 2017.  While sad for Oakland, it's great news for our city to get sales tax money and have a large indoor sports arena for our city.

Surely this is exciting news, but being a local resident of the city, I have fears of a big nightmare.

As we all know, AT&T Park is not far away from the new arena site and if you have ever gone to a Giants home game, you know how bad traffic and transit can be.  Traffic before and after games is slow or just a standstill.  If you ride Muni metro to the ballpark, you know about the passenger crush loads on every single train.  For Caltrain and BART, they are also busy shipping baseball fans to and from the game.

But with the Warriors in town, the worst nightmare will be when both the Giants and Warriors plays on the same day at the same time.  I don't think Muni metro will be able to take on the huge loads of passengers going to both games.

Muni was smart when they built the platforms along the Embarcadero, they are so long, you can fit at least three train cars.  But Muni metro has a few big problems:

1. They can't operate three car trains anywhere on the surface or subway (something about running in "tow mode").  The more trains, the better the capacity.
2. The passenger loads are already at crush loads for Giants games.
3. The passengers living along the T-Third line will continue to experience hell because it's both one-car trains and for many, can't get on the train to get home.
4. There's always a backup of Muni metro trains after an event because they line-up trains on the revenue track.  Passengers from Caltrain and the T-Third gets stuck waiting for trains ahead to clear-out.
5. There's usually a back-up of inbound metro trains at Embarcadero before Giants games.  Why?  Muni officials holds the ballpark bound trains longer at the platform and fill them to capacity while other non-ballpark bound trains are waiting in line.

I think Muni can at least start the planning stages on how to handle the Warriors crowds.  Let's remember there's not much parking around the area and more will be depending on public transportation to get people to and from the games.

Here's a few of my ideas for Muni:

1. Realign the metro tracks along the surface route nearest to have three tracks.  The outer tracks are revenue tracks and the middle track can be a staging area for extra trains so they don't block regular service provided by the N-Judah and T-Third lines.
2. Provide express bus service from Embarcadero station to Warriors arena.
3. Find a way for Giants fans to utilize the future Central Subway while Warriors fans uses the Howard street Muni platform.

Just a few other random transit ideas (more of a dream):

1. Definitely more ferries with bigger capacity.  Extra boarding/disembarking doors on the boats will help.
2. Utilize AT&T Park's parking lot for vehicle parking with a nearby ferry dock to provide frequent high speed ferry service to and from the Warriors arena.
3. Disneyland style multi car trams to major transit stations (is that even street legal?).
4. Bore another subway tunnel to serve the arena and ballpark.
5. Offer incentives for people to take transit, such as buy a game ticket and get half-price fares on public transit.
6. How about a monorail?  "Monorail, monorail, monorail!  Mono... D'oh!"

The "Caltrain Screwjob" - End of 8-Rides Means 15% to 25% Fare Hike

If you haven't read the news lately, Caltrain is proposing to do some changes to their fare structure.

Penalty for Paper Tickets
Essentially, it's going to a penalty on the people who buy paper tickets at their train stations. They are proposing passengers to pay an extra 25 cents per zone for one-way tickets, and 50 cents per zone for day passes. Another way of saying it, it's a 10% fare hike for paper ticket users.

However, Caltrain will not impose the additional fee on those who uses Clipper cards to pay for their rides (e-cash).

By operating on a different fare structure for cash vs. Clipper e-cash, it does cause one unique problem:

• For those who rides more than two times in one day, Clipper e-cash does not give you a day pass; therefore if you ride three times with Clipper, you get charged three one-way rides.
• At least with a paper day pass, you have to pay an extra 50 cent penalty per zone covered, but you get UNLIMITED rides within the zones covered.

End of 8-Rides
This is going to stir more controversy than the paper ticket hike.

I have argued the 8-ride system for Caltrain on Clipper is pretty much a stupid move, and I have suggested that all passengers who rides Caltrain using Clipper should get an across the board 15% discount on their train fares by paying for one-way rides with Clipper's universal e-cash purse.

Well, it didn't turn out the way I expected it.

Caltrain's proposal is to end 8-ride, therefore Clipper users can pay with e-cash for their single trip rides. But as mentioned from above, Caltrain's 25 cent per zone fee for paper ticket makes it sound like you will still receive a discount, but if you were to spend time and crunch the numbers, you are about to get very screwed over.

Caltrain's way of saying it on their website makes it sound cool the 8-rides will die a painful death, but you'll be paying more. Example:

• A two zone 8-ride: $32.25
• New Clipper only 2-zone one-way e-cash per ride: $4.75
• Multiply new 2-zone Clipper one-way e-cash fare by eight: $38.
• Divide 32.25 into 38, you get .849. A simple way of saying it, 8-ride passengers being converted to Clipper e-cash one way fares only will be paying for a 15% fare hike.
• However, if an ex 8-rider uses Clipper, they won't pay the 25 cent per zone paper fee, but if the passenger switches completely to paper tickets only, it will be a 25% fare hike (15% hike for ending 8-ride, and 10% hike for the paper charge).

Akit's Opinion
Regarding the paper ticket fee (10% fare hike):
This begs the question, why hasn't Caltrain and Clipper devised a way to let people essentially 'earn' a day pass when they ride two one-way trips (a.k.a. "pass accumulator")? VTA is planning to do this in the near future where if a passenger rides their buses/trains a certain number of times, the rest of the rides for the remainder of the day is free.

Caltrain also has very few Clipper add value machines, they've only installed them in a few major stations. They refused to modify their paper ticket machines to handle the job, so now people will have to carefully monitor their Clipper e-cash balance, or consider autoload (which I don't recommend).

Regarding the end of 8-rides:
It's a screwjob for the 8-ride users as they lose their 15% off and pay the 'normal' cash fare like other Joes and Janes do today and when the proposal becomes reality. It's an even bigger screwjob for those who decides to skip Clipper completely and pay the paper ticket fare, therefore getting a 25% fare hike.

This ain't cool at all. They kicking their most loyal passengers in the butt, while their casual passengers get a break.

Caltrain's proposal is bad; whomever wrote it will sure get a lot of 8-riders angry. Here's how I would have handled it:

1. Follow how Golden Gate Transit did it. Instead of raising fares, kill the 8-rides and give all Clipper card passengers an across the board 15% discount on one-way e-cash fares; this will compensate for the end of 8-rides. This attracts more ridership as people who infrequently ride it will notice a 15% discount for them too.
   
2. Do not add 10% penalty for paper tickets.
   
3. Start doing a transition every six months until you meet the goal you established; either reduce the 15% to 10%, or all fare categories gets a hike of 25 or 50 cents per zone.

By doing the three steps, it makes it sound much better by easing the pain of a hike, but they way they proposed it, it's like getting kicked in the nuts, then kicked in the face seconds later.

The "Caltrain Screwjob"
If you are wondering why I called it the "Caltrain Screwjob," it's similar to professional wrestling's infamous "Montreal Screwjob." You can read about it here.

If you feel upset that you'll be paying a 15% to 25% fare hike, I encourage you to complain to Caltrain. Their e-mail is: changes@caltrain.com or for alternate methods, click here. Make sure to call these changes the "Caltrain Screwjob" so they know Akit encouraged you to contact them and you stand beside him.

Big Fact: Clipper Loses Nearly $700,000 a Year Because of Negative Balance Feature

$700,000, what can you do with that kind of money? Who is responsible for this huge money waste? You can blame the MTC for the idea, but also members of the general public who enjoys "saving money" at the expense of honest taxpayers who doesn't cheat Clipper.

Here's the whole situation: Clipper cards have a negative balance policy where passengers can allow their card funds to go into the red, but the card won't be usable until the funds are replenished. This was to benefit passengers taking long distances but accidentally ran short in their e-cash purse. This got exploited by people when they realized that they could buy a Clipper card with a very minimal value of e-cash and use the card just once for a ride valued at more than the e-cash balance, and just throw the card away.

This problem went into high gear when news media outlets started telling people how to cheat Clipper. My argument on a previous entry on my blog is the media has the right to free speech and press, but should have suppressed it on moral grounds noting that doing so will cost every taxpayer more money to cover the abuse. Only one news station at least said live on air that the people at the station had a debate if it should be aired or not on moral grounds, but tagged along with other news agencies to spread the word.

The MTC had to do something to stop the widespread abuse costing them a lot of money, and they decided to raise the minimum e-cash value from $2 to $5 for new cards. That did reduce the abuse, but still, abuse is rampant as seen below...

How did I find out? Here's what you need to know:
In a recent draft report for the Operations Committee, it states:

"...approximately 8,000 additional cards with new negative balances each month, and the aggregate negative balance amount increases at a rate of roughly $30,000 per month." (Page 18 of 30, paragraph two of the draft report).

Note: This calculation was provided AFTER the minimum e-cash was raised to $5.

If you like cracking numbers...

1. $3.75 average negative balance per card.
   
2. $360,000 of transit fares a year due to exploiting Clipper.
3. 96,000 cards per year in the trash.
4. $3.53 per card's procurement and distribution costs.
5. $338,880 worth of cards thrown in the garbage (procurement/distribution cost multiplied by 96,000 cards)

GRAND TOTAL: $698,880 of taxpayer money wasted per year due to cheaters.
Or basically $700K.

Now that I've crunched the numbers, will the MTC and Clipper finally find a solution to stop the negative balance policy? There's plenty of ways to stop the abuse:

1. For BART, exitfare machines are modified to force Clipper users to pay the difference before being allowed to exit.
2. For Golden Gate Ferry, no boarding the ferry unless there's an equal or higher amount balance on card. Anyway, there's add value machines just feet away from the ferry terminal gates at all three locations.
3. All card users who wants to use the benefit must register their card with Clipper.
4. Reduce the negative balance to $5.
5. Restrict a card going to the red once or twice in a month. People should learn a lesson.
6. Add a card acquisition fee. No more free handouts of cards.
7. Or just no negative balance allowed. This might complicate things for tag-on and tag-off agencies like BART, Caltrain, and Golden Gate Transit, but they'll find a solution.
   

Akit's Opinions
In my opinion, people who abuse and exploit Clipper's negative balance policy are scumbags; actually, worse than scum, to a level that I'm not going to describe. This feature was for the common good for everyone, and now is costing us taxpayers nearly $700,000 a year.

That $700K could help Clipper do a lot, from purchasing new machines for the public to use, paying a contractor to add additional features to BART ticketing machines, getting the smaller transit agencies up and running, or having Clipper representatives at major transit hubs and stations for a year.

Coming up tomorrow at Akit's Complaint Department: Why didn't Clipper enforce a $5 card acquisition fee starting on July 1, 2011?

Clipper to Expand to Smaller Agencies & 500K Transactions in One Day

The MTC's Operations Committee will be meeting on Friday, September 9th and will be talking about the Clipper card program. They didn't have a meeting in early August, therefore I'll be covering a lot of info provided in the publicly available documents posted on their website.

Based on their July 8th meeting minutes, here's some key points:

1. Members of the MTC did a field trip to tour Clipper related facilities, including the new customer service locations, the Golden Gate Ferry's self-service machines, and a Muni yard where vehicles can get their updates.
2. TransLink became Clipper in June 2010 and the program processed 2 million transactions a month. This has ballooned to 12.5 million transactions a month after just a year.
3. Clipper intends to retrofit existing ticketing machines to also issue new Clipper cards. While the minutes didn't mention what agency that would be, it's likely going to be BART.
4. Clipper wants to expand to the smaller agencies of the Bay Area, which are not part of the Clipper consortium at this time.

In item three to be discussed at the meeting, here's the highlights:

1. On August 18th, Clipper hit an all time high with 502,000 transactions in just one day. But the average covering late July to late August was only 488,000 per day. In a recent video, the MTC admits their estimates was to reach 500K transactions sometime after Labor Day, not two weeks earlier.
2. Muni has completed their mandatory transition of youth passes to Clipper only. For August, 7,345 was sold.
3. Cable Car conductors now have the ability to deduct e-cash payment for rides, and update transactions when passengers purchases their Clipper media online, phone, or participates in autoload.

In item five of the meeting, here's highlights:

1. The MTC was forced to do a Title VI assessment to see if the use of Clipper and pass transitions is negatively impacting minorities and the less fortunate.
2. To make sure they are not discriminating, they have done some big projects, such as added multilingual services to customer phone centers, outreach by tabling, pamphlets in Chinese and Spanish, reviewed the authorized vendors and expanded as necessary to provide additional coverage, and continuing to waive the $5 card fee.
3. It's a long multi page analysis I won't cover too much in detail, but it shows the deficiencies of the program and what MTC and Clipper will do to mitigate it.
   

Big news: Clipper wants to expand to the smaller transit agencies (Phase III)
In item three of the agenda, the report shows their plans to expand Clipper. Interestingly, all these smaller transit agencies combined only accounts for just 5% of the entire Bay Area's public transit usage.

Clipper is using the lessons they learned from the past several years of expanding the program to the big transit agencies as there was some huge problems back then: Significant increased cost, unique transfer policies for each agency, the transfer of "legacy" passes and tickets (this means, the rules of the paper passes is the same as Clipper), and other huge complications.

The goal of making the smaller agencies participate is to simplify the program. They will do it in these phases:

1. The transit agencies will be divided into sectors, each covering the area they operate. There will be one just for the ferries, 101 corridor, East Bay, and Napa/Solano counties. It's like consolidation, but the transit agencies won't become one agency. By making it into sectors, when installation happens, the equipment will be installed at the same time for the whole sector, not just one agency, and a year later, another one.
2. Clipper wants to standardize the fare structure, thereby making fares simple (local and express), the end of zones, simplified transfer policies, monthly passes (no more day and weekly passes) and many other ideas. The goal is to make it simple enough to understand how it works, reduce the operating costs of Clipper, and reduce the number of phone calls of confused patrons to Clipper customer service. Caltrain's rules are so complicated because they allowed "legacy" passes and 8-rides to work on Clipper, when a simpler structure such as an automatic 15% discount would have worked better.
3. The MTC rated each sector to see how efficiently they can install the equipment and get it running. One problem they have is they don't have enough equipment to install on all the buses, thereby they will need to order new ones. They also looked at cost as doing such a project can be high. WETA (the folks who runs most of the ferries) agreed to pay for the project to get the ferry boats to accept Clipper, and they are recommended to be the first to get installation. As for the remaining three sectors, the MTC has a tough choice to decide what sector will go next. Some of the agencies have fareboxes that can accept RFID cards, thereby just a hardware and software upgrade reduces costs instead of ordering new Clipper equipment. Certain sectors are picked based on how often transit is used.
4. It is highly likely the MTC will approve the ferry services to get Clipper first. If they don't install the equipment by January 2012, it will have a negative impact on the new Oakland/South SF service. Ferries will be the easiest to install because the equipment is installed at terminals, which means around two card readers per terminal.

Akit's Opinion
Reaching a goal of 500K is outstanding, but a lot of the credit goes to the mandatory transition from paper passes to Clipper only in just the past twelve months. Muni has been a big player in this as they have the highest number of transactions per day, and the integration of all passes (except Lifeline) is likely the largest contributor.

The Title VI report is huge, but when reading it, you'll understand why there's a lot of improvements needed by the folks at Clipper to assure that everyone gets fair access to the program, no matter your income, ethnicity, and language barriers.

Lastly, the expansion to the smaller agencies is going to be the final part to completing the Clipper network. They know, they don't want to screw-up like they did when the major agencies joined the consortium, that's why there's the idea of expanding by sectors, and using a better assessment of what they have available to make the transition easier.

One big criticism will be if the transit agencies will cooperate with changing their fare structures, passes, transfer agreements, and others. Although all the small agencies combined makes just 5% of all public transit usage in the Bay Area, transferring all the "legacy" fare products, passes, and transfer agreements will make Clipper even more complicated. By going with a streamlined and standard policies for all the small agencies, it will make it much easier to run Clipper at a lower cost, and better for the passengers. But simplifying could hurt the transit agencies financially, especially if they operate by a zone system, have complicated pass rules, and transfer policies with fellow agencies.

Clipper has thousands of fare structures, thousands of pass rules, and thousands of transfer policies, to which makes the transferring of all those legacy media to Clipper a huge laughing joke. Standardizing is the first step to making Clipper more customer friendly, and possibly a future unlimited use monthly pass valid on all Bay Area agencies.

Think about this, how many of you ride Caltrain and hate the fact that the old paper pass and 8-ride rules still apply to Clipper? Why just 8-rides instead of making it ten? Why tag-on and off? Why not just have a streamlined fare and pass structure? If you use AC Transit, why a 31-day pass when Muni and Samtrans uses a monthly pass? Complicated rules = complications with Clipper and headaches for passengers.

Clipper has learned their lesson and wants to make the system more simple for everyone to use. But they are only targeting the transit agencies remaining to participate. Why not also target the big transit agencies in the Bay Area to help simplify?

What Now Clipper Card?

The Clipper card has grown a lot in just a matter of a year, especially with the absorbing of most paper passes to be on electronic form only. There's little changes here and there these days, but we haven't seen anything huge or at least I don't see any new progress as of late.

My concern is, how long until we get the smaller and private agencies to join the consortium? We currently have all the major transit agencies in the Bay Area using the universal card, why can't the card grow?

Ever since the birth of TransLink, Muni, BART, Golden Gate, AC Transit, VTA, and Caltrain was the first agencies to start the pilot program with very limited usage. It was over a decade until in 2010 and 2011 where SamTrans joined the group when the name was changed to the Clipper card.

But even then, where's the new growth? If we are to be truly a one card system, wouldn't it be fair that we include everyone, even the smallest agencies? When will Clipper expand to non public transportation realms such as paying for parking meters, city parking garages, and maybe your next snack at your local convenience store?

There is so much potential for the Clipper card to become even more helpful for our daily lives. Heck, the Japanese are kicking our asses because you can even order ramen out of a vending machine with the touch of your transit fare card.

I'm somewhat confident the folks at the MTC can push through and make it easier for citizens in the Bay Area to take public transit, but it seems Clipper's reputation is somewhat scarred. I still notice those who just thinks it sucks, and there's so much confusion and oddball policies (such as Caltrain's) that things won't get easier until people take action to make changes.

What will it take to clean-up Clipper? What will it take to expand the system? And what will it take to eliminate stupid policies that is either pointless (e.g. selling Muni ridebooks with no discount) or so complicated you'll want to pull your hair out (like Caltrain's idiotic monthly pass policy)?

I challenge the MTC to use their brains and push things along. If you want input from the people, ask the people what they want and give recognition to suggestions and changes on what is fair and good for the public. Convince transit agencies that change is a good thing:

• Tell Caltrain to end the stupid 8-rides and go with an across the board 15% discount
• Tell Muni to stop selling tokens on Clipper cards because it costs the same to ride if paid with e-cash.
• Tell BART to start selling high value discount tickets for Clipper cards at all station ticket vending machines.
• Make Caltrain stations have Clipper add value machines.
• Offer people an 'all Bay Area' pass with unlimited access to all Bay Area transit agencies for one flat price, or offer a choice package where people can choose the agencies they need and the more they pick, the better the savings.
• Offer e-cash paying passengers the opportunity to 'earn' a transit day pass after reaching a certain goal within 24-hours.
  
• End the stupid $2 monthly fee to those who automatically loads their e-cash and/or passes via Commuter Check and similar employer programs.
• Give people a decent incentive to use Clipper. New York gives a bonus to passengers who adds a certain amount to their MetroCard.

How long until MTC takes these ideas and runs with it? They do know they can withhold funds to agencies for not meeting goals (like when they threatened BART), so why not use it as leverage to make changes on behalf of the customers?

--------------------

Sorry for rambling on, I just needed to vent today.

Tell Caltrain: No More 8-Ride Tickets on Clipper!

Just recently, SF Weekly published an article mentioning about how bad it's gotten with Clipper card passengers on Caltrain. There's also a new order from Amtrak management (contracted to run Caltrain) to basically be as unforgiving to a Clipper card user whose card is invalid or just having trouble.

Well, there has to be a solution, and I thought of one as I left it in the comments. Soon enough, I learned my fellow blogger, John Murphy, beat me to the punch. While we have the same exact goals, our views on how to implement it is slightly different.

Here's my take on ending 8-ride tickets:
8-ride tickets has been a staple on Caltrain for a long time. It used to be 10-rides until the validation machines at Caltrain stations kept malfunctioning. The tickets had a few basic rules, including an expiration date for use, and any passenger needing to travel further than what's listed on the 8-ride can pay for a zone upgrade ticket.

Not long ago, Caltrain switched from paper 8-rides to Clipper only and it came with some mixed fanfare. The rules of the program had to change because of the way Clipper operated. What was kept was the expiration rules, but the zone upgrade was not available anymore, thereby passengers wanting to go further had to buy an additional 8-ride to their Clipper card or just buy a one-way ticket at the non-discounted (regular) price.

I wrote on my blog about how to properly use it, taking more of Caltrain's side to say that as long as what's out there, follow the rules; that turned-out ugly when Caltrain's web geeks decided to link my blog to their website and I had a flurry of mean spirited commentary on my blog. I felt like I was a puppet spokesperson for Caltrain.

That was not a great move for me. Sure, that added some more ad revenue and fans flocking to my blog. I realized there's a more critical problem with Caltrain and Clipper, 8-rides is just pointless.

My solution:
End 8-rides on Clipper and give everyone an across the board 15% discount by using the universal e-cash fund.

If you ever cracked the numbers on how much an 8-ride can save passengers, the amount is 15% (give or take around 0.1%).

This process would be very simple. Everyone can use e-cash which is like having cash in your wallet to pay for any transit rides you want. Passengers tag-on at their starting point, and tag-off resulting in being charged at 15% off the one-way cash fare.

This makes it simple and clean. No worries about not having enough 8-rides, no worries about last minute zone switching because your significant other wants to meet you at the mall, or you forgot to grab groceries before heading home.

One Transit Agency Did it a Long Time Ago
Golden Gate Transit and Ferry was one of the first transit agencies to adopt TransLink (old name prior to the switch to the newer "Clipper" branding).

Back in the days, Golden Gate had two options for passengers to pay their fare, pay in cash for a one-way ride, or pre-purchase frequent commuter ticket books. The commuter books are very similar to Caltrain's 8-ride tickets because using them came with a discount and had an expiration date. Since Golden Gate's commuter ticket books was zone specific, they had to print multiple types of zone books on a frequent basis to cover all six zones; and that meant a lot of money being wasted.

When TransLink came around, the agency thought smart: Instead of having TransLink sell electronic versions of the zone books and follow the same rules as they had before about usage (including expiration date), they decided to go with the e-cash only route.

Golden Gate Transit and Ferry went with this great offer: Use the TransLink card, and regardless if you ride it daily or just once a year, every card user will pay less and there's no need to purchase e-ride books. This meant all Golden Gate Transit riders gets 20% off (10% on Marin Transit), and Ferry passengers receives a discount ranging from 40 to 50% off.

What Golden Gate did was a bold move, but it made it much simpler for passengers by just asking all passengers to have ample e-cash on their account, and just tag-on and off to be charged the appropriate one-way fare with the commuter discount savings. This helped passengers who decides to exit the bus early or take a longer trip; this also helps with reducing the complaint loads on customer service; unlike how Caltrain's implementation caused a very high number of complaint calls.

How Does the Caltrain Idea Compare to John Murphy's?
His idea is to have a separate e-cash fund known as "Caltrain Cash" which is the only way to receive the across the board discounts for Caltrain. Using regular e-cash would result in paying the regular one-way fare.

The C-Cash fund would be similar to what BART offers, for those wanting high value discount tickets (prepay a high amount to BART and get a 6.25% bonus), it would be designated in a separate fund on your Clipper card and can't be shared between other agencies. Having a separate fund pool means that transit agencies can earn interest on the extra cash (known as the "float") in a savings account. BART is known to make money off the "float" from the residual tickets thrown in the trash (a.k.a. "tiny tickets") and now they can also get "float" from the Clipper card users who have remaining HVD balances on their card.

While agencies can benefit from the "float," that just makes it more complicated for passengers. These days, people wants it to be easy to ride transit without buying separate e-tickets and e-passes and other garbage to make the program complex. Clipper's universal e-cash fund is the easiest way to ride public transit because it's accepted on all transit agencies and Golden Gate Transit didn't want to make their Clipper system complex and just gave across the board discounts to all card users.

Basically, in comparison:

• I want Caltrain to only accept e-cash and give a 15% discount to Caltrain passengers.
• John wants Caltrain to have a separate cash fund that will give 15% discount to Caltrain passengers.

Eliminate Caltrain Monthly Passes?
While I'm on the topic of Caltrain, I'm not sure how to eliminate the monthly passes. E-cash paying only with the 15% discount may not give the appropriate discount necessary because people could ride Caltrain just twice a day on weekdays only, or ride multiple times per day every single day.

A possible option is to go with the pass accumulator. This means a passenger just needs to fund their Clipper card with e-cash and when it reaches a certain threshold within a specific time period, a pass is "earned" and future rides during that time period is free. This would end the multiple choices to purchase monthly passes, whether it be online, at a retailer, or an automated machine.

This option would work well for agencies like Muni, but for Caltrain operating a zone system, this would be really complicated on how to calculate a passenger's travels to 'earn' the pass.

Until Caltrain Kills the 8-Ride Tickets...
Do not register for Clipper's autoload program or the automatic loading through commuter benefit agencies.

If autoload screws up and it wasn't your fault (say your credit card charge was denied), your card is blocked from future Clipper usage until it's cleared-up with customer service. That may take days for the card to be unblocked.

If the automatic loading from commuter benefits doesn't happen on-time, you are left out in the cold with no Caltrain pass or 8-rides to cover your journey. That could mean attempting to ride for free and risking a court visit for fare evasion, or paying cash for a regular one-way ticket.

The easy solution is to use in-person vendors, transit agency ticketing offices, self-service machines, or Clipper customer service locations at Embarcadero station and the Ferry Building. By using one of these options, you get your pass, e-cash, or 8-rides INSTANTLY on the card and available for immediate usage. This beats ordering online because it can take up to 5-days for it to be loaded onto the card.

Here's two video examples I produced of how to use a self-service machine:

For commuter benefits, ask your employer or use the benefit agency's website to modify your ordering from automatic loading to one of these choices:

• Ask for a paper voucher. They are accepted at Walgreens, Clipper customer service, and transit agency ticketing offices.
• Ask for a debit card. They are accepted at all self-service machines (such as all Muni metro stations), Clipper customer service, and some transit agency ticketing offices.
  

By going away from autoload and commuter benefit automatic loading, you never have to worry about your card being blocked ever again.

Clipper Card Updates: July 2011 Operations Committee

The MTC's Operations Committee will be meeting on July 8th at 9:30AM and it's time for another monthly Clipper card update from the folks who makes the big spending decisions for the blue card.

Here's information from the minutes from their previous meeting on June 10th:

1. The MTC is working with Muni on the final transition of all youth pass users to switch from paper to Clipper cards.
2. Starting August 1st, RTC cardholders (disabled cardholders) who has an authorized attendant, can request a specialized Clipper "attendant card" so the attendant can also be eligible for the appropriate discounts.
3. To meet the needs of Caltrain passengers, MTC is working with Clipper and Caltrain to install add value machines at Caltrain stations at San Francisco, Palo Alto, and San Jose.

Here's what's going to be talked about at the Operations meeting:

More Information about the Attendant Cards:
The attendant cards will start August 1st, but will only be issued if the disabled cardholder requests for one. They don't want to go widespread and automatically issue attendant cards because the transit agencies are concerned if these cards are going to be fraudulently used (e.g. an attendant using the card when not accompanying the primary cardholder).

Fare Media Transition to Clipper
For the agencies participating in Clipper, they are required to meet goals to transition their fare media to Clipper, otherwise there could be sanctions issued by the MTC for failure.

Many agencies were able to meet their scheduled deadlines, while some others were able to temporarily delay it, a few fare media hasn't met their goals, and some media can't do it because of certain circumstances.

The most infamous of failure to comply is BART. They were supposed to transition all high value discount tickets by March 1, 2011, and the red and green tickets by May 1, 2011. MTC warned BART of the consequences for failure to comply and they have agreed to transition the three media types by the end of December 2011.

There's a long list of fare media that has been or will be transitioned. I'm cutting this short to only include those that hasn't been transitioned:

• AC Transit: Senior/Disabled 10-ride and monthly, Class Pass, and 1-ride tickets for social service agencies has been waived for now.
• BART: High value, green, and red tickets failed to transition and is proposed to do so by the end of this year. Orange tickets and BART Plus is on waivers. BART Plus can't transition because it utilizes non-Clipper transit agencies, such as County Connection.
  
• Caltrain: Go Pass was supposed to transition on January 31st; MTC is working with Caltrain on a new date.
• Muni: BART to Muni transfer at Daly City station was supposed to so by August 1, 2010, but is a complex problem for those who utilizes SF State shuttles away from BART and takes Muni back to BART. The classic Muni token was supposed to transition April 1st, but that's as rare as the dodo bird. Muni passports was supposed to transition on June 30th, but Muni only sells the paper scratch-off version. Muni transfers are supposed to be transitioning on September 30th, but that's being discussed, possibly due to other concerns regarding POP enforcement.

Akit's Opinion
I'm satisfied the MTC is finding a solution for the attendants who accompany disabled passengers to receive the same discount benefits while on duty. But I am concerned that with lack of enforcement, the cards can be abused by attendants whom are not accompanying their disabled passenger by giving the attendant discounted rides, to which they are not supposed to get.

For the fare media transition, many agencies have been able to transition their media on-time or with a slight delay. I'm not impressed with BART's lax effort to stick to a schedule, and now they get another six months to slack off.

One of the bigger controversies that will come out from the media transition is Muni transfers. City supervisors have considered to eliminate transfers as a cost cutting measure, but it leaves a gaping hole in the transit agency's enforcement policy, how will they enforce 'proof of payment?' By only giving transfers for Clipper users only, cash paying customers will get no receipt, thereby the enforcement of POP officers will switch from checking passengers at random stops to just enforcing the no entry through the back door rule. If enforcement is too lax, people will just board the bus illegally through the back door and if not immediately caught by the driver or POP officer, it's a free ride. If Muni wants to get serious to eliminate paper transfers, they'll need to do some serious enforcement on bus and metro lines to make people change their thinking. Read more about my thoughts about eliminating transfers at this older blog post.

One Less Step for Caltrain Monthly Pass Users using Clipper

I know a lot of you are griping about the complicated and sometimes pain in the ass process with using Clipper cards on Caltrain, and especially with monthly passes.

Caltrain Monthly Passes
A curious question was posted on Clipper's Facebook page by Henry about the tag-on and tag-off policy on the first day of travel for those using monthly passes by purchasing in-person vendors and self-service machines.

Clipper came back with a really amazing answer:

• If you purchased your Caltrain monthly pass at an in-person vendor or a self-service machine, you DO NOT need to tag-on and off on the first day of travel for the new month.

Why? Same principle Clipper has been teaching us, in-person vendors and self-service machines loads it on the card immediately. This also resolves complications for those passengers whose first day of travel may go beyond their designated zones; they can now purchase a paper zone upgrade ticket while utilizing the zones loaded on their Clipper card.

However... if you utilize autoload, or purchased it online or phone, tagging on and off the first day of travel is still required in order to load the pass onto the card.

But, no matter which way you pay for a Clipper card, there must still be a minimum of $1.25 e-cash on the Clipper card at all times.


So Why is Caltrain & Clipper Still Encouraging Tagging-On and Off?
Both agencies still encourage the tactic because Caltrain on Clipper is already way too complicated. By telling everyone to do the tag-on and off steps, it makes it easier to market Clipper to everyone who uses monthly passes (regardless of how it was paid).


I write a lot, so here's the simple way to explain it:

• Self service or vendor purchase of a Caltrain pass? No need to tag card on Caltrain.
• Online, phone, or autoload? Yes.

Hey BART: Why E-Cash Purchases Only on Your Ticketing Machines? Let People Buy Passes for Other Agencies

We all know the fact... the Clipper card empire keeps expanding to meet the needs of the public. While not every single agency is not participating, it's good to have all of BART's ticketing machines able to add Clipper card value.

There is one awkward quirk about BART's ticketing machines and Clipper...

Why can't it do more than just purchase e-cash value?

I use e-cash because it's universal and I can use it on any participating agency, but can't BART's ticketing machines be a little more flexible by letting passengers also purchase passes for other agencies?

A good example is the Millbrae station. Caltrain doesn't have Clipper add value machines at that station, so people can use BART's ticketing machines to add e-cash value. But the problem is that since BART shares that station with Caltrain, can't the machines also be able to purchase Caltrain's monthly passes and 8-rides?

Other stations like Daly City, Balboa Park, and Glen Park is also a transfer point for Muni, shouldn't the BART machines also be able to purchase Muni monthly passes too? BART stations in the East Bay are next to major AC Transit stops, why not allow AC Transit pass purchases too?

The point is: Clipper and BART, please make those machines flexible and allow passengers to purchase more than just e-cash. Muni metro ticketing machines and Clipper self-service machines can do it, why can't you?

Another Round of Clipper Card Updates from the MTC's Operations Committee

While I love to report about the notes posted on MTC's Operations Committee (the de facto Clipper card board), I should warn you now, there won't be much new material.

The Operations Committee will be meeting this Friday, April 8, 2011 at 10:15AM. (See agenda) Clipper will be discussed in calendar items (item 2, part "D") regarding contract actions. Normally these 'contract actions' is an opportunity for the MTC to modify or establish contracts with the goal of using or increase funding based on the needs of the Clipper card program. The committee uses this opportunity to address MTC staff and Clipper representatives about the program, and the agenda items posted online (see here) also gives helpful info to the public.

Highlights

• As of April 1st, all existing paper 8-ride tickets for Caltrain has expired and now operates on Clipper only. This is for any passenger who purchased their paper 8-ride on the very last day prior to being sold on Clipper cards only.
• Clipper staff are been doing heavy outreach to all Caltrain passenger stations, and have been on all rush hour evening trains on March 29th to answer questions about the switch.
• Muni has recently switched from the paper "M" Muni only pass to Clipper only.
• BART's activation of their ticketing machines for Clipper e-cash purchases is currently at 30 stations (as of April 1st). BART will be activating functionality on the last 14 stations this month.
• Golden Gate Ferry completed installation of Clipper purchasing machines at their ferry terminals in February, and will begin patron operations in April.

Contract Actions

• The committee approved $750K for upgrading VTA's existing ticketing machines to be able to also add Clipper value, however the planned cost for Cubic to handle the work has come way under budget. Due to the reduced budget cost, the entire build will now cost $500K, and they will vote on shifting the extra $250K to the "VTA Funding Agreement."
• The committee is to receive a proposal to amend a contract for the Bay Crossings booth at the Ferry Building. If you remember in my prior blog posts, the Bay Crossings vendor is one of only two in-person customer service centers for Clipper cards. The plan is to increase the existing contact to $167,000 in order to extend Clipper services at that location to June 30, 2012. The original contact was approved for $64,500, but in order to sustain continued services, the proposal is to increase it by $102,500 (thereby equaling $167,000).

Akit's Opinion and Analysis
After spending a four day weekend riding Muni to see old friends and get lunch, it seems things are going okay with the big switch for all Muni "M" pass users to Clipper only. There's only been a few occasions where rookie users didn't know how to properly tag their card, and that's going to be expected this week as the 3-day grace period has officially ended. This switch also means their favorite pass vendor, whether it be a corner liquor store, discount housewares shop, or their donut shop won't be able to handle Clipper transactions. It's a change for many, but realize that if you take transit and pass by a nearby authorized Clipper vendor, just take ten minutes of your busy life and hop-off the vehicle and go purchase it.

Clipper on Caltrain will always be the nagging problem for the program. It's not an easy to use system as Clipper is required to mimic existing pass and ticketing policies from Caltrain (with a few modifications, such as tag-on and off). With so much complexity, there is a need for the program to simplify, such as following the model used by Golden Gate Transit & Ferry where they eliminated all ticket books (they never sold passes) and just gave all passengers an across the board ride discount equal to the discount given from the ticket books.

While I'm on the topic of transit payments, when will Clipper consider the pass accumulator program and a regional pass? A pass accumulator is a system where a passenger pays for their rides with a specific agency with e-cash, and when it reaches a certain threshold, the rest of the rides for that specified period is free. A regional pass is similar to BART Plus where a rider has the ability to ride unlimited rides on multiple agencies for one flat price. While these are two separate ideas, the ultimate dream for all Bay Area transit riders would be a program where if you spend so much in a specified period on ANY participating agency, the rest of the rides on all agencies are free. The MTC has talked about this before, but have been quiet about it. Plans are in the works to simplify the fare structure for all transit agencies using Clipper.

If you ever wondered about where all this money comes from to fund Clipper and its services, one primary source comes from the "Regional Measure 2" funds us voters approved back in 2004. The funding comes from the additional dollar all drivers must pay to cross all Bay Area bridges (except Golden Gate Bridge) and is used to fund transportation projects with the goal to reduce congestion and to improve existing toll facilities (read more). Other funding comes from the state and federal levels.

Adding Clipper Card E-Cash Now Available at BART Stations (with New Video)

Good news, Clipper e-cash can now be added at select BART stations! During the month of March, BART will be rolling-out this capability on a station-by-station basis and should be completed at all stations by the end of the month. Two stations are currently active: West Dublin/Pleasanton and Glen Park stations. I got an e-mail from a fan saying it's also available at Pleasant Hill station.

The new video I produced and embedded on this blog post will explain how to add e-cash by paying the ticketing machine with cash. You can also use a credit or debit card as an option too.

The BART ticketing machines are very fast and simple for Clipper cards; it fits perfectly like a glove. The menu system is easy to use and you can add any amount you like, from a minimum of five cents to the maximum card balance of $300.00. Plus, if you don't have exact change, no worry, you just push a couple of buttons and get the exact amount you want loaded on your Clipper card (example: I insert a $10, but I want $8 on the card; pushing a couple of buttons will load $8 on the card and give back $2 in change).

The flexibility to select a unique amount of e-cash to the Clipper card is a big plus, in comparison to Muni's ticketing machines at metro stations that forces you to select a certain amount of e-cash value prior to inserting money to the machine. Since Muni raised the minimum e-cash purchase to $5 for reloading the card, you can just find a BART ticketing machine and load any amount that pleases you.

One weakness is the machines can only do e-cash loading, and this means no passes and ridebooks. This is going to be disappointing for those at Millbrae BART/Caltrain because those Caltrain passengers won't be able to buy their passes or 8-rides utilizing a BART ticketing machine. I'm hoping BART will eventually add additional features to the machines so passengers can purchase passes and ridebooks.

On the bright end, at least there will be more places in the Bay Area to add e-cash! Next, the MTC needs to get Clipper self-service machines at Caltrain stations.

UPDATE 3/7 at 9:17AM: Rockridge and Balboa Park stations are now online as per Clipper's twitter account.
UPDATE 3/9 at 2:45PM: Dublin/Pleasanton station now available.
UPDATE 3/11 at 9:48AM: Fruitvale is online. Coming next, Castro Valley.
UPDATE 3/14: As per Clipper's Facebook page, Castro Valley is now online.
UPDATE 3/17: Union City.
UPDATE 3/15: Welcome, Fremont!
UPDATE 3/21: Pittsburg Bay Point, North Concord, and Concord.