Clipper Card Program Attains 20-Million-Monthly Transaction Mark
OAKLAND, CA — The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced today that the popular Clipper® transit fare card program reached its highest usage rate ever, with 20,058,055 transactions in April 2014. The 20-million transactions include fare payments on trips taken on participating systems — including pass usage — and add-value transactions. The high mark represents a 4.7 percent increase over Clipper transactions in April 2013.
Clipper is the all-in-one transit card onto which customers can load cash value, passes and tickets. Operators currently accepting Clipper cards include San Francisco Muni, BART, AC Transit, Caltrain, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit & Ferry, San Francisco Bay Ferry and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Clipper is used for fare payment on nearly half of all transit trips in the region, with an average weekday usage of 728,209 in April. In that same period, transit riders used 731,853 unique Clipper cards.
Launched in 2006, the transit fare payment card is popular with transit riders: A December 2013 survey of 810 registered Clipper cardholders found that 90 percent are satisfied or very satisfied, and almost all (97 percent) would recommend Clipper to others.
“We’re so pleased that customers are clearly happy with Clipper,” said MTC Director of Electronic Payments Carol Kuester. “But we are always looking for ways to make it an even better experience.”
MTC is working to expand the Clipper system later this year to include Marin Transit in Marin County; Napa VINE in Napa County; the Soltrans, Fairfield-Suisun Transit (FAST), Vacaville City Coach, Rio Vista Delta Breeze and Vacaville City Coach bus systems in Solano County; and San Francisco Bay Ferry’s Vallejo-to-San Francisco route. Clipper also will be accepted for payment on the new Oakland Airport Connector, expected to open later this year.
MTC plans to expand the Clipper program to the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (WHEELS) bus network in Alameda County and the County Connection, WestCAT and Tri-Delta Transit bus systems in Contra Costa County by the end of 2015; and to the Santa Rosa City Bus, Sonoma County Transit, Cloverdale Transit, Petaluma Transit and Healdsburg Transit systems in Sonoma County by the spring of 2016.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
To learn more about Clipper, visit clippercard.com or call Clipper Customer Service at (877) 878-8883 or TDD/TYY: 711 or (800) 735-2929 and type “Clipper.”
Contact:
John Goodwin, MTC: (415) 778-5262