Clipper Card Glitch Screws Passengers Again - When Will it Stop?

Broken readers is just one of many problems.

If you have a Clipper card, you may have been a victim of glitches or problems that are not your fault.  Throughout the years that I've been blogging about Clipper, I've written my fair share of issues and try to get MTC, and Cubic Transportation Systems (the contractor running the Clipper card) to get it fixed.

And while they do admit to their errors and fixes them as soon as they can, the problems continue to persist, like this most recent issue:

Starting on June 1st, Muni decided to end the paper version of the free ride transfers for those who exit Daly City BART and switches to the Clipper card handling the transactions.  This matter was concerning to commuters who used the SF State free shuttle as the transfer policy requires the passenger to ride the 28/28L line bus away from the station within the first hour of exiting the station; by taking the SF State shuttle, the transfer on the Clipper card is void and a return trip from SF State to BART will be charged at regular price.

Muni and SF State worked out a plan, effective August 1, 2012, instead of the one hour policy, it was extended to 23 hours for the first Muni ride.  The reason behind this is students that take the campus shuttle away from the campus, and can still ride the 28/28L line going back to BART with no fear of being charged a $2 fare (as long as it's within 23 hours of exiting BART).  Read story about the change in transfer policy.

But things didn't work out as planned.  As reported by the Golden Gate Xpress, the supposed reprogrammed transfer policy had a glitch and students who took the campus shuttle away from Daly City, was charged a $2 fare for their return to BART when taking a Muni bus.  Muni admitted the error and promised to have a fix by October 26th and Clipper will refund any passenger affected by the glitch.

The problem I have with this is, why do these glitches keep cropping up, and why isn't the contractor (Cubic Transportation Systems) not making sure it works perfectly the first time, every time?

It's not an isolated problem for Cubic, it's a chain of failures due to idiots programming the stuff without testing it.  Here's a list of their failures for the past few years:

1. In August 2012, there was a discovery that happened in 2010 when their cards enrolled with autoload funded their cards, but didn't charge their credit card at the time of the reloading of funds. Passengers were finally charged in August 2012 on their credit cards for the reloaded funds.
2. Back in May 2012, AC Transit passengers complained that when they rode an AC bus, transferred to BART, and took another AC bus, they were overcharged on their fare.  This glitch was the same problem Muni passengers faced before (see below).
3. At the same time, passengers who rode Muni, took BART, and transferred to Muni was also overcharged.  I originally reported on the problem back in June 2011 and while Clipper promised to get it fixed, people were still getting screwed until May 2012.
4. A software glitch delays the implementation of Clipper on Samtrans.  MTC fails to notify public until I broke the news.
5. In October 2010, I reported on the Clipper card readers beeping like crazy and it wasn't fixed until February 2011.
6. In early August 2010, those who linked their Clipper card with Wageworks was very angry when a glitch in the system resulted in pre-tax transit benefit users not getting their passes or funds loaded to their card in a timely manner. (Via my blog and SF Appeal)
7. On one day in July 2010, a software update to Clipper card readers on Muni failed to work properly resulting in disabled Clipper card readers.
8. April 2010, software update disables TransLink (pre-Clipper era) card readers.

I think I've made my point clear.  MTC needs to force Cubic to wise up and make sure that whenever there's a software or firmware update, that everything is throughly tested BEFORE the public uses it.  For every mistake or problem, people lose money from their Clipper card from errors or overcharges, transit agencies don't generate the correct revenue, and the time wasted for fixing the errors and issuing refunds to those affected.

Updates: Daly City BART to Muni Transfer and The E-Line Pilot May Fail

I thought I'd spend some time and provide updates on two of my past blog entries.

The Daly City free Muni transfers:
Originally, passengers who exited the Daly City BART station with their Clipper card was given an electronic transfer encoded on their card for two free Muni rides.  The first ride must be claimed within one hour of exiting the station, and therefore the second ride is validated.  The spirit of the rule is the passenger will receive the free ride for the return back to the station; but due to Muni's lack of inputting data into each vehicle console, if a passenger took the 28-19th Avenue away from Daly City, the next Muni ride, regardless of route is free (such as transferring to the 38-Geary).

But now the second ride fun is over.  Muni has now instructed operators to input into their Clipper console the route number, therefore the two way electronic transfer from Daly City BART is now only valid on the 14L, 28, 28L and 54.  The only little problem, if the operator doesn't input the bus route number, the transfer might not go through.

Take a look at your Muni card history report.  For nearly all the Muni rides, it will say "MTANONE" indicating no route information was inputted.  But when I rode the 28 line, I noticed it say "28" as the route, therefore the e-transfers issued from Daly City is only good on the routes that goes to and from Daly City BART.

I should note, a change in the transfer policy will start August 1st when the e-transfer rule of exiting BART and taking Muni within one hour will be changed to 23 hours.  Read more about the change.

The E-Line May Fail
After publishing my blog entry about the exciting news regarding the E-Line pilot project going from Caltrain to Fisherman's Wharf, the project might not even happen.

While Muni's report acknowledged that staffing levels and equipment may be a problem, the Market Street Railway notes that things are bleak.  The big problem Muni and MTR will face is the lack of double ended PCC streetcars that are required for the route.  There's barely enough of these rare cars, and it depends if all of them are street worthy and safe to operate.  If one breaks down, the pilot project can either die or will run at more than a 15 minute headway.

The Market Street Railway does not recommend the pilot program to start unless if Muni can provide ample staffing and streetcars to run the program.

Update: Positive Change in Policy for SF State Students Taking BART and Muni to Campus

I've been reporting for the past few weeks about Muni's plan to end the issuing of paper transfers for free Muni rides at Daly City BART in favor of going electronic only on the Clipper card starting June 1st.

For many regular residents, the change would not affect them as they would still be able to ride Muni away and back to that particular BART station.  For SF State students, staff and faculty, the end of paper transfers would result in a much more challenging problem.

As I've mentioned before, with the current policy regarding the use of the Clipper card, SF State affiliates have two options, they can take the free ride on the Muni 28 line or take the SF State shuttle.  Either way, the ride away from the station is free.  However, the return ride is much more challenging as those who took the free shuttle earlier has their free ride back on Muni voided because of a current rule: If a passenger does not tag their Clipper card on a Muni bus within one hour of exiting the Daly City station, the return ride transfer is VOID.

When it comes to SF State students and rising university tuition and fees, justifying to pay an extra $2 to ride back to BART can get expensive and not many are happy about the changes.

Confusing Information to the Public
What really stirred the pot of controversy was what the university's CampusMemo (a weekly employee newsletter) and the student operated Golden Gate Xpress newspaper reported to the public.  Both the CampusMemo and Xpress reported that the return ride on Muni to Daly City BART would be free, even if the person took the campus shuttle to the campus.  But they did not highlight their source of information about this new change in policy, and I solely relied on the SFMTA's alerts page about the upcoming change on June 1st.

When You Need Help, Just Ask!
Instead leaving the big elephant in the room with a huge sack of peanuts to see what will happen, I decided to contact the SFMTA for some assistance.  I e-mailed Paul Rose, Media Relations Manager of the SFMTA and asked him if the university was correct in the new policy change to allow SF State affiliates to ride back to BART for free within 24 hours of exiting the station, even if the person took the campus shuttle away from the station.

Paul Rose, SFMTA Media Relations Manager stated:

SF State brought this issue to the SFMTA’s attention and have come up with a solution that will be implemented no later than August 1. Although the initial transition will take place effective June 1 and customers will be required to take the first transfer to Muni within 1 hour from BART, this will not impact SF State students as the shuttle does not run during the summer. A business rule change will be in place by August 1 which will extend the transfer period requirement for the first trip on Muni to 23 hours which will continue to allow SF State students to take either the shuttle or Muni for their first trip and allow a second return trip within 24 hours.

We will update our website once the change is closer to taking place.

A Win for SF State Affiliates
Based on what Mr. Rose stated, this means SF State affiliates can take their first Muni bus within 23 hours of exiting Daly City, and can still take a second free ride on Muni within 24 hours.  This definitely benefits the campus community and provides additional flexibility for those who takes the campus shuttle.  It also clarifies the confusion of if they will have to pay for the ride back to BART or not.

An Exploit for Non-SF State Affiliates?
While it does benefit the students, the unintentional consequence (or benefit) is that non-SF State affiliates can also use this to their advantage.  If the passenger exits Daly City BART and a family member picks them up from the station, the passenger still has two free rides on Muni and must use the first free ride within 23 hours and is eligible for the second ride within 24 hours of exiting the station.

Why? Muni buses and trains does not register on their Clipper card operator consoles on what route and direction they operate.  In fact, if you log into your Clipper card account online and download your activity report, you will see that if you tag your Clipper card on a Muni vehicle reader, it will say: "SFM Bus" indicating you took the Muni, and "MTANONE" as the route.

If Muni maintains that policy of not indicating what route the bus runs on their Clipper consoles, for the bus lines that covers Daly City BART (14L, 28, 28L, and 54), this means passengers scores two free rides on practically any bus line on Muni.  Say for example: I exit Daly City BART with my Clipper card and my wife (in reality, I'm still single) picks me up at the station.  The next morning, I can ride any two Muni lines I want and not pay a single cent because the operator console uses a generic universal identification for the entire Muni fleet.

I guess you win some and lose some.

On a final note, this is the first time I've ever contacted a media relations manager for anything relating to my blog, and I appreciate Paul Rose taking time out of his day to conduct some research and provide me a helpful response to share with my readers.  Cheers to you.

Easy Solution for SF State Students Regarding Change in BART-Muni Free Transfers to Clipper Cards

Is there a solution for the upcoming change in free Muni rides for Daly City BART passengers that are also SF State students? If you recall from my previous posts (post #1 and post #2), Muni has decided to eliminate the transfers and go Clipper only starting June 1, 2012.

With the paper transfer, a student can take the SF State shuttle and still get a free ride back on Muni to Daly City BART. However, with Clipper, a student MUST ride Muni in order to ‘earn’ the free Muni return ride back to the BART station. With the campus providing the free shuttle, it eases the crowds on the Muni 28 line, but with the mandatory Clipper card transition, this will be a big problem as the flow of passengers will be uneven.

As I mentioned before, students have two options when they exit BART:

1. Ride the Muni 28 away from Daly City to get free ride, and can choose the SF State shuttle or Muni 28 to get back to Daly City BART.
2. Ride the SF State shuttle away from Daly City, and must take the SF State shuttle back to Daly City BART or pay $2 on Clipper card for return ride on Muni 28.

Due to the problem with the automatic voiding of the e-transfer, this will mean more people will ride the 28 line to SF State because they have two free options for the back to BART. By taking the shuttle away from BART, they are stuck with only one option for the free return ride.

Students interviewed by the Golden Gate Xpress said they hate the policy change from Muni.

I said to myself, how can this be easier for everyone? One idea I had is to install Clipper card readers on the SF State shuttles to validate the transfer for passengers to get a ride back to BART via Muni.  Now I realize that’s a very expensive option and shuttles would have to be taken out of service to install the equipment.

I thought of a very low cost, less confusing, and easy solution that will work:
Muni should allow SF State students, staff, and faculty to take the bus for free for the return ride back to Daly City BART (no Clipper card required).

How? Every student and employee of the campus carries their university ID. Students, faculty, and staff show their campus ID to the Muni operator at the 19th & Holloway bus stop for their free return ride.

The flashing of the campus ID is only good at 19th & Holloway and only for the route going to Daly City BART.

Passengers would have to follow the honor system to only exit at Daly City BART and not any of the interim stops between SF State and BART.

Cost wise, it wouldn’t make much of a difference than what’s happening right now with the paper transfers (take transfer, ride SF State shuttle away, and return to station on Muni). The Clipper card makes it challenging and students will be grumpy if they have to dish out an extra $2 because their e-transfer expired for not taking an away trip on Muni, or being forced to wait in long lines for the SF State shuttle.

What do you think of this idea?

Clarifying Misconceptions about Free Muni Rides when Exiting Daly City BART

In a previous post, I mentioned about Muni’s decision to end paper versions of the yellow BART to Muni transfers from Daly City BART and that it will go electronic only via the Clipper card.

The message being given to the public is going in multiple directions, so I’m going to clarify this by getting the message from the source (SFMTA/Muni).

In the SF State CampusMemo released yesterday, it states:

“Beginning June 1, free transfers between BART and the Muni 28 line at Daly City Station will no longer be done via paper transfer. In order to get the free transfer from BART to the Muni 28 line, fares will have to be paid with a Clipper card. The Muni return fare will also be free if the return trip takes place within 24 hours, regardless of whether the BART-to-SF State trip was on the Muni 28 bus or the SF State shuttle.”

The last sentence (highlighted in bold) throws the whole situation in the wrong direction. My interpretation of the last sentence: If a person exits Daly City BART with their Clipper card and boards the SF State shuttle, they are obligated to a free ride back to BART via Muni 28 line.


Here’s the correct way to understand how this works: As per SFMTA:

“Beginning June 1, 2012, paper transfers will no longer be available for free transfers between BART and Muni at Daly City Station. If you transfer from BART at Daly City Station to the Muni 14L, 28 or 54 routes, your Muni fare will be free only when you pay your BART fare with a Clipper card and you board within one hour after exiting BART. After making your outbound journey on Muni, your Muni return fare will also be free when you return within 24 hours. You must make an outbound journey to receive the free return.”

Therefore, the last sentence from Muni (highlighted in bold) clearly states that a passenger must take an outbound ride on Muni (not the SF State shuttle) in order to qualify for the return ride back to BART.  How does that work?  The free rides (both outbound and inbound) is automatically voided after one hour passes from the time the passenger exits the BART station.  A person "earns" their free ride back to Daly City BART only if they validate their Clipper card by tagging their card on a Muni bus when leaving Daly City BART.

Since Muni is the official authority regarding this matter, SF State is not correct in their statement that taking the campus shuttle qualifies for a free ride on Muni back to the BART station.

There's very few solutions that can resolve this matter, such as installing Clipper card readers on SF State shuttle buses to validate the cards when students board the shuttle at Daly City, but as long as there are no more yellow paper transfers, this will be a long term problem and will surely rake Muni extra $2 fares here and there.

Let’s go over some common scenarios people may encounter, and if they would be eligible for free Muni rides:
Scenario #1: A passenger exits Daly City BART and uses the same Clipper card they exited to ride Muni 28 to SF State within one hour of exiting the station. The passenger returns from SF State to Daly City BART via the 28 line within 24 hours of boarding the first Muni bus using the same Clipper card. What is the correct answer?

Scenario #2: A passenger exits Daly City BART and rides the SF State shuttle to campus. The passenger returns to Daly City BART via the 28 line after his/her classes are over for the day and uses the same Clipper card he/she exited BART with. What is the correct answer?

Scenario #3: A passenger exits Daly City BART and gets picked-up by a family member to take them home. The passenger rides the 28 line back to Daly City BART the next morning using the same Clipper card he/she used to exit BART yesterday. What is the correct answer?

Answers:
Answer to Scenario #1: The passenger receives a free ride on Muni for exiting BART ($0 deducted from Clipper card), and receives a free ride back to BART ($0 deducted from Clipper card). The reason: He/she followed the procedures correctly: Exited BART and entered Muni with same Clipper card within one hour of from time of exit of BART gate to the bus, and boarded Muni for the return trip within 24 hours.

Answer to Scenario #2: While the passenger gets a free ride away from BART via the campus shuttle, he/she is not eligible for the free ride back to Daly City BART because Muni’s rules state a passenger must make an outbound trip on a Muni bus.

Answer to Scenario #3: Similar to the answer for Scenario #2, passenger does not qualify for free Muni ride back to Daly City BART because the passenger did not ride Muni away from the station.

No More Paper Transfers at Daly City BART - Going Clipper Only June 1st

Some not so great news for those of you who love the yellow paper transfers at the Daly City BART station's paid area...

Effective June 1, 2012, the machines will be taken out of service and those who ride BART and transfer to Muni must use a the same Clipper card they exit BART to get a free Muni ride away from the station (as per Muni updates page).

How it works:
When you exit BART at Daly City (regardless if you pay with e-cash or HVD), you will automatically receive an e-transfer encoded on your card.  When boarding a Muni bus (14L, 28, 28L, and 54) and tagging your card, you will receive a free ride and get your card automatically encoded for a free ride back to the BART station within 24 hours.

[Big secret] perk:
The Clipper system is a little bit dumb.  Let's say you exited BART and took the 28-19th Avenue bus away from the station.  You get off at Geary Blvd. & Park Presidio and you want to transfer to the 38L.  Because the Clipper system (for Muni) does not know what bus route you are riding or which direction, your second ride (on the 38L) is FREE.  This works on all Muni lines, it doesn't have to be the 38L.

This basically means, you get two free rides regardless of whatever line and direction you take, as long as you meet these minimum rules:

1. You tag your card on a Muni bus within one hour of exiting Daly City BART.
2. You take your second ride on a Muni bus within 24-hours when you complete the above task.

Unlike the two part paper transfer, you can only use the paper transfer to leave BART and return to BART.  Clipper: Free reign!

Disadvantages:
One disadvantage is if someone picks you up from the station or you take your car home from the BART lot.  If you take a paper transfer and get an alternate ride home, getting back to BART via Muni is free because you still have a piece of paper giving you the right to a free ride back.  But with going Clipper only, your free ride the next day is void because of the one hour rule when exiting the station.

The second (and WORST) disadvantage is if you ride the SF State shuttle.  This is going to be the biggest headache.  Back in May 2011, I mentioned about this big problem and said the easiest way to beat the problem is with the yellow paper transfer.

Here's the problem: Let's say you exited Daly City BART, earned your e-transfer on your card, and take the free SF State shuttle away from the station.  When you want to return to BART from SF State, you are left with two options:

1. Take the SF State shuttle back to Daly City BART (free ride, no Clipper required).
2. Take the 28 or 28L bus back to Daly City BART, and it will cost you $2 because after one hour after you received your e-transfer from leaving the BART station, it becomes VOID on the Muni ride back.

Option two becomes a big issue.  Lots of SF State students take the yellow transfer and can easily decide while waiting in the SF State shuttle line (back to BART) that if they see a 28 bus approaching, they'll take that instead and get their free ride.  But... with going Clipper only on those BART transfers, they'll learn that they lost $2 from their Clipper e-cash because they took the SF State shuttle to campus instead of Muni.

Is there an easy solution?  The answer is no.  You have to remind yourself:

• "If I take the SF State shuttle to campus, I must take the shuttle back to BART."
• OR: "If I take the Muni 28/28L to campus, I have the option to take either the SF State shuttle or 28/28L back to BART."

The SF State problem is the most challenging.  I am hopeful that the city, BART, Muni, and SF State officials can work out a deal that allows all SF State affiliates, including the staff and faculty the privilege to have free BART rides extended to Daly City station.  If you want to read more about this possibility, click here.

Muni Fast Pass Access to Daly City BART? Might be a Reality

From a Twitter source I rely on, Jerold Chinn has mentioned the city is working on a deal to possibly expand the Muni "A" Fast Pass access on BART to also include Daly City Station.

It's a big piece of news that's not getting a lot of media attention. Who wouldn't want extra access?

The "A" Muni Fast Pass
The Fast Pass provides passengers the opportunity to ride BART within San Francisco with no additional fare. It's been a big hit for those who lives near a SF BART station and needs to reach their workplace in downtown SF or attends City College of San Francisco because it gets them there quickly without the hassle of riding a bus.

But for SF State students, it's been a hot issue as the "A" pass does not cover Daly City Station; even though SF State is within San Francisco, Daly City is the closest station to the university campus. This forces students to choose to pay for BART in cash, or save money by taking a longer ride by utilizing Muni.


What's up with Daly City BART?
Daly City station is a very unique station as it lies right on the border between the two cities. Since BART declares Daly City Station not part of San Francisco, Muni does not have the privilege to allow their passengers to use their "A" fast pass, and all BART passengers who rides a train crossing the city border pays a surcharge, which costs a rider of a total of $2.95 to go from Daly City to Powell, and vice versa; while a ride starting and ending within SF is just a mere $1.75.

To compensate for the surcharge, Muni offers all exiting BART passengers a coupon (or Clipper e-transfer) to ride Muni's 28, 28L, and 54 lines for free away from the station, and a free ride back within 24 hours of the coupon issued.

SF State has also contributed to help people get to their campus with a free shuttle service where they run mini buses from the BART station to 19th Avenue & Holloway, and vice versa.

Combining the efforts of Muni's 28 and 28L, and the SF State shuttle has provided students a free way to get to the main campus, even though they pay a premium for the BART service to reach Daly City.

What would happen if BART allows the "A" pass to be accepted at Daly City?

Benefits to passengers:

1. BART passengers who lives near Daly City and only rides BART to SF now has an unlimited ride option and would obviously save tons of money with a flat rate pass.
2. Do the math: $2.95 one way from DC to Powell, times two (for round-trips), times 20 working days in January 2012 (not includes January 2nd and January 16th for holidays) = $118.00. By using a $70 pass, a passenger saves $48 a month, or $576 a year.
3. Faster access for SF State students, meaning reduction in loads for Muni Metro's M-Ocean View and 29-Sunset lines (these are alternate ways to connect to SF State; M-Ocean View for downtown BART stations, and 29-Sunset for Balboa Park BART).
4. Since no SF BART station has a parking lot, now there's a station that has one along the "A" pass boundaries. Perfect for those who attends games at AT&T Park and wants their car waiting for them after their BART ride, like me.
5. Samtrans passengers who rides the feeder buses to Daly City also benefits with the flat price pass savings when riding BART.
   

Negative reaction/problems:

1. Increase in passenger loads on Muni's 28 and 28L lines.
2. Increase in passenger loads on the SF State Shuttle.
3. With a lower cost to ride BART and increases attraction to ride to work in downtown SF, it may cause higher demand for parking at the station's parking garage and lots.
4. BART ticketing machines don't sell Clipper products, only e-cash. This means passengers would have to buy it at a retailer or at a Muni metro station.
   
5. The possible end of free paper transfers for the 28, 28L and 54 Muni lines. If Muni is in a major financial problem, they'd likely kill the Daly City free ride transfers because it costs up to $4 per passenger for the free rides. Muni has to somehow compensate for the switch.
   
6. Muni could decide to maintain the coupons for the Muni lines, but only offer the 25 cent discount, just like all SF BART stations have.
7. Samtrans passengers may use BART Plus for unlimited rides on Samtrans and Muni, but doesn't give unlimited BART rides within SF/Daly City.
   

Akit's Opinions
In my opinion, I think it's a great idea. It's a great way for SF State students to get to campus. This will also encourage more people to use Clipper to ride BART and Muni to get to/from campus.

Since I have a "M" pass, adding an extra $10 for the premium would help me during baseball season since a round-trip ride on BART from Daly City to Powell station already costs $5.90 round-trip. I would park my car at the station (free parking after 3PM weekdays and all-day on weekends), and take the train to/from the game.

Translink works on BART - Here's Video Proof

Riding BART using the Translink card works easily and perfectly. I filmed this after taking my furlough adventure. A high definition version of the video is available.

If you want an easy to understand demonstration to "tag" your card to ride BART (some have complained of difficulty), watch this animation from BART that uses their EZ Rider card.

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

One minor flaw is that I exited the Daly City BART station and transferred to Muni's 28-19th Avenue bus line, but instead of giving me the free ride as agreed in their transfer policy, it charged me the $1.75 and is equivalent to the 25 cent off coupons you get for transferring to Muni between Balboa Park and Embarcadero.

But here's the funny part, Daly City BART's free Muni transfer is valid for only one ride and you don't get a paper transfer to ride a different line (if you use non-Translink media), thereby, I would pay an additional $2.00 to ride a second Muni bus. Since I was charged $1.75 in error, it gave me the 90 minute transfer to take a second bus, and I saved a quarter in the end.

Translink customer service told me that transferring from Daly City BART to Muni gives "two free rides," which is the equivalent of the two-part Daly City BART-Muni transfer. I'm not 100% sure if they mean I get two rides without a 90 minute transfer each, or I don't get one.

Translink on BART? They claim they are ready in June

Interesting... very interesting. After a mob of people from our Facebook group went out just yesterday (Sunday) to conduct a test run of the Translink card on San Francisco Muni vehicles and stations, the local media releases word that BART will be on the Translink program in early June.

The MTC reports that BART should have their software updgrades to the gates installed by May 5th and will conduct approximately 30 days of testing (as claimed by BART PR man Lynton Johnson). BART claims they will have approximately 1,000 people from their EZ Rider pool in their "slow rollout."

If BART is ready to go within 30 days, this means that it should be ready for public use in very early June of this year! Translink cardholders rejoice! We now have a new option to get around the Bay Area, and now we can truly connect Muni, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit (w/service that goes to El Cerrito Del Norte BART), and BART as one big program.

But there are some interesting and curious questions to ask BART and Translink:

1. Will BART ticket machines be capable to add e-cash on Translink cards?
2. Will BART in-person ticket vendors have Translink add funds machines so us Commuter Check folks can claim our checks without visiting the AC Transit ticket office?
3. Will BART be using a separate e-cash "purse" since they offer a 6.25 percent discount for the "high value" tickets they regularly sell now?
   
4. If Muni passholders use BART, say from Balboa Park (SF) to North Berkeley, will the pass be allowed and only be charged the segment from West Oakland (first non-SF stop) to North Berkeley? Or will passengers have to get off at Embarcadero to tag-off, and re-enter the system to save money?
5. Will BART issue the e-transfers for the discount rides for the other Translink connected agencies? AC Transit for 25 cent discount, VTA bus (via Fremont station) for unknown discount, Muni for 25 cent discount to/from, and free ride on Muni (28, 28L, and 54) to/from Daly City?
   
6. The article in the Chronicle is not too clear. Will BART have full-rollout of Translink after 30 (or so) days after the test run on May 5th?
7. Why are you still selling EZ Rider cards when Translink will take-over this process?
   

Next up???? Caltrain??? Rumor has it they will be doing a tag-on/tag-off system where if you tag your card at the station, you are charged the maximum fare. Once you exit the system, you tag-off to be charged the appropriate amount depending on the zones you traveled. They may also be considering an "unfortunate incident" option where if your train is delayed (especially due to the number of suicides and accidents), you can tag-off at the same station you tagged-in and get a full refund.

Lastly: SF Appeal published an article about the Translink group trip on Muni! Thanks to writer and photographer Matt Baume and editor Eve Batey!

BART Station Agent Parking - Abuse of Powers?

I like going to Giants games on Friday nights and I park at the Daly City BART station. I keep noticing this car hogging two parking spaces, and then I noticed that it's the BART station agent parking spots. I took these photos on two separate Friday nights:

(Photo taken 8/12/08)


(Photo taken 8/8/08)

Does anyone think this is abuse of parking privileges? Please post a comment.

In my opinion: Especially if you are on-duty, you don't do something this embarrassing, especially when the guy who caught these photos is ME (a "transpo (transportation) vigilante..." thanks Curbed SF!). It's just the same if a Muni driver cussed you out, you don't do it when on-duty.