Next Gen Clipper and CC tap to pay
 

Well folks, it seems like the tech capital of the world is finally taking steps to catch up with the "third world." As I understand, any agency that takes Clipper now takes CC tap/pay. (If it is a distance-based system, you must also tap off.) And Clipper now provides multi-agency discounts for transfers. I assume this also applies to tap/pay with the same CC.
The savings are substantial. I recently took a 3 agency trip, not uncommon from home to go to a neighborhood not on the BART line in SF, and one where if two are traveling, UBER becomes competitive as we're over $20 one way to go 13 or so miles.

AC Transit to BART to Muni was $7.60 per person, for a savings of nearly $3. Still no bargain on a "compare to other cities" manner, but for our Balkanized system, not too bad.

Finally! It's been so much easier for me to tap any credit card in the JFK Airtrain, NYC subway and the DC Metro. I'm glad we're making things easier here for our visitors.

Now if they could just fix the newer BART fare gates so I don't have to come to a complete stop before it finally registers my Clipper card. The old ones recognized the card and opened right away without having to break walking pace at all.

this is a very fun 0.01% problem - I use Bart only twice a week on average and I’ve never bothered to worry about my movement pace. I myself definitely use clipper in iPhone wallet and I enjoy adding $11-ish to my clipper account and then using it. I guess the credit card makes sense for tourists.

Does this change require getting a new Clipper Card?

(I need to do so anyway, as I am now over 65 years old.)

No. When you log in the next time, it will take you through the "upgrade" process, choke up, seemingly won't complete, but it actually does (my experience)!

Unlike Omny in NYC, you can't use a credit card and get the senior discount.
 

Omny allows you to go online and designate a credit card to receive your senior discount. Clipper doesn't.

Glass half-full ;)

Remember, it wasn't that long ago that the JFK Airtrain required payment that was not integrated with the OMNY system.

Years ago, I took my elder daughter on a NYC trip to visit colleges. I bought a 10-trip JFK Airtrain card by mistake; I thought I was getting 10x subway fares. I asked an agent for help. He started at me for a moment, shook his head, and said in a thick New York accent, "You screwed up big time, buddy!"

My daughter still talks about that as one of the funniest moments of her life.

These days and maybe back then, a 10 trip Airtrain ticket is cheaper than 4 one way (out and back in) fares. That said, you might have bought a 10 trip ticket for each of you, which would have been pretty pricey. Since you can use the same ticket for up to 4 people going through the gate, it is a real price performer.

That's because it was on your tab ;)

The other one is when I was walking in downtown Berkeley with both daughters. Out of nowhere, a homeless woman confronted me and said, with deliberate slowness in her message, "You're still...a stupid...son of a .....!"

My favorite part of that was the still. Makes the insult so much harsher. It's as though I had a chance to learn and correct my course in life. But no.

Did she tap and pay while you were in your Chippendale's outfit and you didn't perform? Twice? :D

I would generally never do a transfer as I don't have that kind of time to kill. Exception: Muni to BART at the end of a Giants game (though I usually drive and park as that is 2x faster at night).

That said I was very happy when BART adopted tap-to-pay using Clipper from my iphone. Now I only have to deal with BART fare machines to pay for parking (faster than the inane phone app). Chicago and DC also have tap-to-pay with credit cards. London underground has had this for years. Nice to see USA coming out of the stone age.

Agree about tap to pay (although I rarely use BART etc). But it seems that this "innovation" (a decade or two after other cities) is apparently destroying the financial model, because the planner didn't count on people actually using it, and not loading up their Clipper card $100 at a time anymore (it's amazing that the old system pretty much relied on wastage, much like gift cards...I have an odd $5 on my Clipper card that I haven't used in a very long time).

tb

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/articl...d-22188250.php