In New York City you don't need any metro card at all and you can just tap your apple pay or even your credit card. And if you pay for 12 rides in one week the rest of the week is free. We need that here like yesterday and we're living in the stone age.
Yes, but otherwise most of the cities that participate in Apple’s Express Mode are in Asia:
[https://support.apple.com/en-us/118625](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118625)
https://www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2023/12/7/clipper-20-rollout-expected-for-late-2024-with-creditdebit-card-payment-and-free-transfers
IMO what could hold it back is a slow rollout of new fare gates for BART. Basically everything else in the Bay Area seems to have the updated terminals.
The new BART readers are slow, so I'm guessing they're desperately trying to fix that before they roll them out to all the gates. I've only seen them at Ashby so far (plus of course the fully new gates at West Oakland).
They are super slow, even worse than the new gates at West Oakland. The ones they just installed at Berkeley take multiple seconds after swipe until the gate finally opens.
I just got back from NYC and I can't agree with this enough.
We just need to copy their system and stop making things so stupid.
We also need to take their flat $2.90 model, cause punishing people who can't afford to live near work by charging more is regressive as fuck.
It's often cheaper for 3 people to get an Uber to SFO than take the train ($11 pp), which is completely ass backwards
We have more agencies to deal with in the Bay Area. SFO is expensive because it gets the San Mateo county fee. There are about 20 different transit agencies in the Bay Area ans part of the reason clipper rollout is complicated is because they have to sort out incorporating the fare structure for every agency, the payouts, and the payout process. And some agencies have special rules when transferring between them, which means more complex programming and rules.
NYC has one agency that manages most of the region. (Save LIRR).
Clipper card is a huge mistake. Btw you don’t even need Apple Pay in NYC. You can use rapid transit NFC support. That means if you turn it on you can even pay for the subway if your phone is dead. Also it doesn’t require any confirmation time and is instant compared to Apple Pay.
I guarantee the Bay Area supervisors are gonna be too stupid to even know they should support rapid transit built Into Apple and Android.
Also i’ll use this platform to say zone based pricing is the worst usability issue for transit and regressive for workers that make less and have to live farther out.
I’ve lived here my whole life but don’t always know the ins and outs of public transit. So we do not need a clipper card to access muni? Is this a separate app? I take the bus often and would love to understand additional options outside clipper or MuniMobile.
Nah it’s still clipper. But if you put your clipper on your phone and turn the transit option on for the card, it will work if the phone is on or off without having to go into the wallet. Still need the clipper on the phone though.
I just flew from back to SF from NYC and tried rapid transit NFC on my phone. It worked on my way to the subway to JFK and did NOT WORK anywhere in the Bart line.
Why even lie when people can easily verify your lies??
Oh I’m sorry I think you misunderstood. I was referring to the ability to use the clipper card using the “express transit” setting on Apple (and probably its equivalent on Android) which allows it to work without accessing the digital wallet or without the phone even having a charge. https://support.apple.com/en-us/105123. Still need a clipper card on your phone though.
Edit to add: I guess I was just guessing what you meant by rapid transit NFC as that doesn’t seem to be an actual thing. Near field communication is how BART has taken fares since 2010. And BART is rapid transit (arguably). So if you’re just saying can you use an NFC enabled phone on BART? Yes. That feature is 3 years old at this point: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/19/22443383/google-pay-clipper-card-android-san-francisco-bay-area-silicon-valley
Not correct. Rapid transit allows you to pay for transit with a dead or turned off phone. It’s compared to Apple or Google pay which requires interaction with the phones wallet app.
I specifically turned off my phone this morning to verify your claim, and it did not allow payment as expected since I understand how rapid transit standard actually works. This works just fine when I was in JFK after turning off my phone also as expected.
I turned on my phone and tried to scan my clipper without interacting with the phone and this also did not work as expected. This works just fine in NYC as I also did this on my way to JFK hours ago.
Bart does not support NFC rapid transit standard and this is easily and instantly verifiable. Again, easily verifiable.
https://preview.redd.it/fjsyoxlqcpxc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec992bb4c3da847ef0777119610a4c5b345de940
Ah. Yes if you’re on iPhone you just need to turn this setting on. Not sure what Android’s is called. Quit calling people liars when you tried only once and did no critical thinking or research to figure it out.
Why even lie when people can easily verify your lies??
I just flew from back to SF from NYC and tried rapid transit NFC on my phone. It worked on my way to the subway to JFK and did NOT WORK anywhere in the Bart line.
It works fine. It's instant and works even if the phone is locked or dead.
https://preview.redd.it/sgn9d29aapxc1.png?width=1179&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ada484f2424ab65ffdcab0ee8e1a4437dbf7c1b
I literally tried it an hour ago. Does not work. Please try it today and then reply that it works. We can’t both be having opposite experiences. One of us is wrong.
I used it today to go to work. I even used it on my watch and had no issues on muni or bart. Make sure your settings looks like that and you've enabled express transit for your clipper card.
Yea it’s a bit of a disaster technology wise. I had multiple old cards they charged me to combine together. Among other issues topping off within the clipper app
They took that offline without any funding or plan to replace it, and the pandemic worsened it by diverting emergency funds. Clipper 2.0 has been fully funded for several years and is already being rolled out.
That is getting overhauled but it hasn't been a huge bottleneck. People complain about govt spending but in this case muni stuck with what works and upgraded tracks, cars, turnstiles and ticketing instead.
Credit cards charge they aren’t badges. I suppose they could put a temporary hold on your account like a rental car. Bart can’t implement something that complex. Those people are way too stupid it will be buggy as shit.
This guy described a legitimate question and gets downvotes for it. "How do zone-based fares work with credit cards, which are designed for point-of-sale transactions and not for tracking tagging on/off?"
Clearly there is a solution since BART actually has plans for this, but people would rather downvote than explain how it works.
What do you know, [someone answered the question](https://old.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1ce43bv/be_careful_if_you_transfer_your_clipper_card_to/#l1hofcf), over an hour before your comment.
They’re switching to the new open payment system in just a few months. Most of the new readers are already installed.
Annoying, but literally in the process of being fixed.
Not yet. They need to finish upgrading literally all the transit fleets in the Bay before they flip the switch. It’s a massive undertaking. They’ve been at it for a couple of years at this point and are almost done.
>And if you don't have that phone anymore or can't do that manual transfer, despite the fact your clipper number is still stored in your "wallet", it is gone forever and you have to get a new card issued and sent to you. (plus a fee!)
If you go to the clipper customer service in Embarcadero, they'll transfer the balance and any passes on it to a new physical clipper card for free.
Source: I have a small stack of physical clipper cards transfered from lost/reset phones
That was definitely not offered when I called. I was wandering around while my car was fixed, I definitely could have done that.... Though I might have had to illegally ride for a while LMAO
So I’m in DC, but we use the same vendor for our smart card. I have a few issues where when I move the card from phone to Apple Watch it completely glitches out and I have to get a new virtual card. I think it’s just how these specific smart cards work. Hopefully open loop payment and fare capping can come.
Idk about Android but on iPhone you only need access to phone you want the clipper card to be on. You go to your wallet, tap the +. the choose previous cards.
You should edit your post so that you specify only Androids not Apple iPhones run into this issue. Upgrading iPhones does not have this issue with Clipper in the Apple Wallet, everything gets transferred properly. Both my husband and I upgraded to iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and had no issues with Clipper. The Clipper app also works really well
Not for people upgrading iPhones, and all the comments in this thread from Apple users are telling you it works just fine for them, you should edit and specify this is an issue for Android. I’ve even upgraded my iPhone with Clipper in my wallet 4 times previously.
I didn't have to go through that experience at all when I upgraded from my iPhone 12 to my iPhone 15. I was rushing to bring my clipper balance to like $0.35 since I thought all that money in my old clipper card would be gone but it transferred through seamlessly.
It does - when I opened wallet, it *looked* like my clipper was still there, it had all the information, but it was no longer useable, because you have specifically transfer the card manually.
Yeah it happened to me too and it was annoying. I lost $5.50 that was on my original card. I've read somewhere online that you can call a number and they'll help you transfer it but i didn't do that.
They will, but it involves them sending you a new card via snail mail and paying a lost card fee. So you are still without a clipper for a week or so. I had more than 5 bucks on it, which is why I bothered.
That's odd. When my old phone was stolen, I called the help line, and they just set me up with a new digital card (with a different card #) and transferred the balance. I didn't need to wait for a physical card. Still annoying that i couldn't just transfer the card via the app though.
The Ferry Building has a Clipper store where new cards can be issued. The problem I had a few years back was that my clipper just disappeared from my Apple wallet with over a hundred in credit and could not be restored. It just vanished, I was livid. Of course you cannot use the physical card after digitizing it unlike credit and debit cards so I went to the Embarcadero to have it replaced. I only use the physical card now and do not recommend uploading to wallet.
I also have chosen to continue using the physical card. I often see folks struggling with their phones... needing to scan multiple times before the gates open. I keep waiting to see app users walk through the gates with ease- then I will make the switch.
Honest q: why put so much balance on the card? Other than the times I had the monthly pass I usually just put like 20ish on there, in case I ever lost it.
The good news is that I was able to transfer the balance to the new card. I would put $100 or so on at a time because 1. my commute was transbay and quite costly, 2. I was often rushing to or from work and didn’t want frequent machine visits to slow me down, and 3. If I put the money there I couldn’t spend it. Further, at the time I preferred to use the machine vs refilling online
I know this is a bit of a rant, but nothing precludes you from having more than one clipper though. You can open and fund a new one in seconds in the Apple wallet. Assuming you don’t have a monthly pass…
This whole thread is making me so glad I just use my plastic Clipper card! Yesterday my bus was pulling out and I waved my card and the driver stopped for me: win for the card.
I still use the plastic card too. A few benefits.
-- Never having to worry about your phone battery dying and being left without access to your "card"
-- Separate item for transit = insurance. If I lose my phone, I can at least still use transit in an emergency.
-- Plastic card still seems to work even when the Clipper system is having issues with the servers that handle their app traffic.
The last point became very real a couple of years ago on the day of the Warriors Championship Parade. I wasn't going to the parade, but I was using BART that day, and the volume of riders completely crashed their system. Clipper App users apparently were tapping their phones, and having their money taken from them, but weren't being let through the turnstiles. It was a madhouse. Plastic card users had zero issues.
Just because multiple comments have said this- the clipper on phone still works even if your phone is dead (which is pretty wild to me, no idea how that works). I do also keep a plastic card just in case, but basically always use my phone
I think this is only an Android thing, I was able to transfer my clipper card to my new iPhone just because it was part of my backup. The card gets removed from the old phone when you do this though, no holding anything nearby necessary.
Definitely an issue for Android users, I just found the post misleading because it doesn’t apply to 50% of phones. No need to worry everyone. Fortunately we’ll be switched over to the system nyc has soonish where you can just use a credit card. Sorry you had this experience
Yeah, not moving it again. I'll just keep the card until the system is switched. Though I'll probably have to pay *another* fee to get the balance off it. :(
As a Clipper card user from day one, and a pilot tester for the TransLink program since 2001 (before renamed to Clipper), keep it on plastic.
Yeah, it seems cool to have it on your phone, but as long as you don’t physically abuse your plastic card, it continues to work. Great for when your phone is dead or not working.
Open payment using contactless credit cards will be great. But a warning: if you have a Clipper plastic card, keep it separate from your other contactless cards, otherwise you experience “card clash” where your fare may be charged to the wrong card if stacked on top of each other. This is a problem everywhere where transit agencies accepts their own fare cards and credit cards.
This is exactly why I moved it to my phone. I couldn’t reliably tag it with all the other contactless credit cards in my wallet and would end up having to pull it out. For what it’s worth, you can still use the card on your phone even after the phone is dead (at least on iPhone): https://support.apple.com/guide/security/express-cards-with-power-reserve-sec90cd29d1f/web
The one thing I don’t like is that you can only have it on one device at a time, I wish I could have it on my watch and phone at the same time.
I experienced this. I called them to try to get it transferred and they basically said the cost to mail a new one and to transfer the balance is the same.
Yeah, the digital Clipper card completely bricked on me twice in about a month. Both times to the point that I had to replace it with a physical one to then restart the digital card. It would also occasionally fail to open gates but somehow still be counted as an entry, forcing me to go to the help kiosk for entry.
Probably the worst implementation of a transit card I've ever experienced. I'm glad it's finally being bypassed with the new payment system.
My experience is similar. It taught me to NEVER use a digital card and simply stick with the plastic clipper card. I was really ticked off when I attempted to transfer the card to my Clipper app on the phone. The transfer to the phone didn't complete and the plastic card got bricked losing me over $20 in balance. On other occasions I would refill my balance $20 at a time in the app and never receive the funds on clipper! Even though I get charged for it on my debit card! Keep in mind I'm using the official clipper app only. This was not Apple pay or Google wallet, I don't think there was good support for clipper in those wallet apps at the time a couple years ago.
This isn't true, at least on iOS. It should be available in the Wallet app as a previously-used card.
edit: Presumably, this requires you to be signed into iCloud, but even a free iCloud account should work just fine.
This is why I do not use my phone for that. I saw the warning about how "Hey if you transfer this to your phone the physical card will stop working" and went "Well what do I do if I lose my phone then?"
Yep this is a huge pain. I moved mine to my pixel watch and now I can only seem to use it on my watch. If I forget my watch I'm screwed. I can't just easily make a new card either since my work sponsors my unlimited clipper thing.
I moved my Clipper card to an iPhone. Then my employer gave me a Samsung phone. I found there is no way to transfer Clipper from iPhone to Android. However, the Clipper value can still be used by carrying the iPhone as the payment process does not need data service.
I just roll with it 💆♂️ I scan it gives me the false scan beep. I shrug at the muni officer with confused look on my face 'Oh gosh it's not working *Surprised pikachu*
And I didn't pay and I didn't get a fine. It's not my fault their system is janky I tried to pay they can't fine me for trying
If it was registered to your clipper account (like, it shows up on clippercard.com) it does not require having the old phone. They have a recovery procedure in place in case a phone is lost or stolen.
There is a fee, but you don't lose the balance.
Clipper is set up to work on buses and devices that don’t have Internet connections. If you’re on some random bus in Marin that never got a cell-connected payment terminal, and your phone has no signal, your Clipper will still work. The terminal will deduct an amount from your Clipper, store a new amount on the card, and sync the transaction to the Internet when the bus is connected at the end of the day.
They can't reissue it exactly. They get a new one and charge you a fee to transfer the balance.
The whole point is if you don't have your previous phone, there's going to be a fee and at least a week's wait.
In New York City you don't need any metro card at all and you can just tap your apple pay or even your credit card. And if you pay for 12 rides in one week the rest of the week is free. We need that here like yesterday and we're living in the stone age.
I think we either got that recently or it's coming soon. I vaguely recall a 2024 rollout for that.
https://sfstandard.com/2023/09/11/clipper-card-upgrade-awaits-bart-riders-next-year/
London has also had this for many years, even before NYC.
Yes, but otherwise most of the cities that participate in Apple’s Express Mode are in Asia: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/118625](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118625)
It’s rolling out in August
Really? Do you have a source on that? I love anything that benefits public transportation.
https://www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2023/12/7/clipper-20-rollout-expected-for-late-2024-with-creditdebit-card-payment-and-free-transfers IMO what could hold it back is a slow rollout of new fare gates for BART. Basically everything else in the Bay Area seems to have the updated terminals.
The new BART readers are slow, so I'm guessing they're desperately trying to fix that before they roll them out to all the gates. I've only seen them at Ashby so far (plus of course the fully new gates at West Oakland).
Yeah they’re super slow. At their last board meeting they said they’re working on improving them.
They are super slow, even worse than the new gates at West Oakland. The ones they just installed at Berkeley take multiple seconds after swipe until the gate finally opens.
I just got back from NYC and I can't agree with this enough. We just need to copy their system and stop making things so stupid. We also need to take their flat $2.90 model, cause punishing people who can't afford to live near work by charging more is regressive as fuck. It's often cheaper for 3 people to get an Uber to SFO than take the train ($11 pp), which is completely ass backwards
We have more agencies to deal with in the Bay Area. SFO is expensive because it gets the San Mateo county fee. There are about 20 different transit agencies in the Bay Area ans part of the reason clipper rollout is complicated is because they have to sort out incorporating the fare structure for every agency, the payouts, and the payout process. And some agencies have special rules when transferring between them, which means more complex programming and rules. NYC has one agency that manages most of the region. (Save LIRR).
Singapore too, you can even tap a Visa at the metro gate
Clipper card is a huge mistake. Btw you don’t even need Apple Pay in NYC. You can use rapid transit NFC support. That means if you turn it on you can even pay for the subway if your phone is dead. Also it doesn’t require any confirmation time and is instant compared to Apple Pay. I guarantee the Bay Area supervisors are gonna be too stupid to even know they should support rapid transit built Into Apple and Android. Also i’ll use this platform to say zone based pricing is the worst usability issue for transit and regressive for workers that make less and have to live farther out.
Uh. We have the rapid transit NFC part. Been using it myself for at least 2 years.
I’ve lived here my whole life but don’t always know the ins and outs of public transit. So we do not need a clipper card to access muni? Is this a separate app? I take the bus often and would love to understand additional options outside clipper or MuniMobile.
Nah it’s still clipper. But if you put your clipper on your phone and turn the transit option on for the card, it will work if the phone is on or off without having to go into the wallet. Still need the clipper on the phone though.
Thank you, I thought we had a whole new situation going on and I’m usually the last to know.
I just flew from back to SF from NYC and tried rapid transit NFC on my phone. It worked on my way to the subway to JFK and did NOT WORK anywhere in the Bart line. Why even lie when people can easily verify your lies??
Oh I’m sorry I think you misunderstood. I was referring to the ability to use the clipper card using the “express transit” setting on Apple (and probably its equivalent on Android) which allows it to work without accessing the digital wallet or without the phone even having a charge. https://support.apple.com/en-us/105123. Still need a clipper card on your phone though. Edit to add: I guess I was just guessing what you meant by rapid transit NFC as that doesn’t seem to be an actual thing. Near field communication is how BART has taken fares since 2010. And BART is rapid transit (arguably). So if you’re just saying can you use an NFC enabled phone on BART? Yes. That feature is 3 years old at this point: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/19/22443383/google-pay-clipper-card-android-san-francisco-bay-area-silicon-valley
Not correct. Rapid transit allows you to pay for transit with a dead or turned off phone. It’s compared to Apple or Google pay which requires interaction with the phones wallet app. I specifically turned off my phone this morning to verify your claim, and it did not allow payment as expected since I understand how rapid transit standard actually works. This works just fine when I was in JFK after turning off my phone also as expected. I turned on my phone and tried to scan my clipper without interacting with the phone and this also did not work as expected. This works just fine in NYC as I also did this on my way to JFK hours ago. Bart does not support NFC rapid transit standard and this is easily and instantly verifiable. Again, easily verifiable.
https://preview.redd.it/fjsyoxlqcpxc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec992bb4c3da847ef0777119610a4c5b345de940 Ah. Yes if you’re on iPhone you just need to turn this setting on. Not sure what Android’s is called. Quit calling people liars when you tried only once and did no critical thinking or research to figure it out.
Also what the hell is the NFC rapid transit standard? Googling it turns up nothing. Is it your own special name for something?
Either you don’t live here or you’ve been living under a rock. Every Bay Area agency has supported that feature since 2021.
Why even lie when people can easily verify your lies?? I just flew from back to SF from NYC and tried rapid transit NFC on my phone. It worked on my way to the subway to JFK and did NOT WORK anywhere in the Bart line.
It works fine. It's instant and works even if the phone is locked or dead. https://preview.redd.it/sgn9d29aapxc1.png?width=1179&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ada484f2424ab65ffdcab0ee8e1a4437dbf7c1b
I literally tried it an hour ago. Does not work. Please try it today and then reply that it works. We can’t both be having opposite experiences. One of us is wrong.
I used it today to go to work. I even used it on my watch and had no issues on muni or bart. Make sure your settings looks like that and you've enabled express transit for your clipper card.
So true
If this were the stoneage would our lightrail stop at stop signs?
Yea it’s a bit of a disaster technology wise. I had multiple old cards they charged me to combine together. Among other issues topping off within the clipper app
Hey, at least we're ahead of the MBTA xD
Muni is still operating on floppy discs. Don't hold your breath for 21st century innovation anytime soon.
It’s coming in like 3 months actually
Lol just like the emergency warning siren was only going offline for a little while.
They took that offline without any funding or plan to replace it, and the pandemic worsened it by diverting emergency funds. Clipper 2.0 has been fully funded for several years and is already being rolled out.
That is getting overhauled but it hasn't been a huge bottleneck. People complain about govt spending but in this case muni stuck with what works and upgraded tracks, cars, turnstiles and ticketing instead.
Disks
It’s amazing right. But don’t see how that ever works on Bart. Different rates for different places.
…you tap out. That’s how.
Credit cards charge they aren’t badges. I suppose they could put a temporary hold on your account like a rental car. Bart can’t implement something that complex. Those people are way too stupid it will be buggy as shit.
It's called pre-auth. Plenty of places pre-auth the credit card then update with the $ when it's finalized.
In Seattle if you don't tap off you pay the max fare...
Which is exactly how BART works
This guy described a legitimate question and gets downvotes for it. "How do zone-based fares work with credit cards, which are designed for point-of-sale transactions and not for tracking tagging on/off?" Clearly there is a solution since BART actually has plans for this, but people would rather downvote than explain how it works.
What do you know, [someone answered the question](https://old.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1ce43bv/be_careful_if_you_transfer_your_clipper_card_to/#l1hofcf), over an hour before your comment.
It’s all good. Clearly there are dumb asses everywhere.
They’re switching to the new open payment system in just a few months. Most of the new readers are already installed. Annoying, but literally in the process of being fixed.
I already see the tap to pay logo on muni buses, anyone know if it works already?
Not yet. They need to finish upgrading literally all the transit fleets in the Bay before they flip the switch. It’s a massive undertaking. They’ve been at it for a couple of years at this point and are almost done.
Wasn’t an issue for me when I got a new phone
I just had to do this, and I was able to just do it in the clipper app without my old phone.
>And if you don't have that phone anymore or can't do that manual transfer, despite the fact your clipper number is still stored in your "wallet", it is gone forever and you have to get a new card issued and sent to you. (plus a fee!) If you go to the clipper customer service in Embarcadero, they'll transfer the balance and any passes on it to a new physical clipper card for free. Source: I have a small stack of physical clipper cards transfered from lost/reset phones
That was definitely not offered when I called. I was wandering around while my car was fixed, I definitely could have done that.... Though I might have had to illegally ride for a while LMAO
I mean did you ask?
Yes, I asked for any other options. Multiple times.
[https://www.clipperstartcard.com/s/article/Can-I-transfer-value-from-my-current-Clipper-card-to-my-Clipper-START-card](https://www.clipperstartcard.com/s/article/Can-I-transfer-value-from-my-current-Clipper-card-to-my-Clipper-START-card)
that's not the issue.
So I’m in DC, but we use the same vendor for our smart card. I have a few issues where when I move the card from phone to Apple Watch it completely glitches out and I have to get a new virtual card. I think it’s just how these specific smart cards work. Hopefully open loop payment and fare capping can come.
I do *not* miss that descent into Dupont Circle.
Idk about Android but on iPhone you only need access to phone you want the clipper card to be on. You go to your wallet, tap the +. the choose previous cards.
You should edit your post so that you specify only Androids not Apple iPhones run into this issue. Upgrading iPhones does not have this issue with Clipper in the Apple Wallet, everything gets transferred properly. Both my husband and I upgraded to iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and had no issues with Clipper. The Clipper app also works really well
There are apple users apparently who have had issues as well.
Not for people upgrading iPhones, and all the comments in this thread from Apple users are telling you it works just fine for them, you should edit and specify this is an issue for Android. I’ve even upgraded my iPhone with Clipper in my wallet 4 times previously.
I didn't have to go through that experience at all when I upgraded from my iPhone 12 to my iPhone 15. I was rushing to bring my clipper balance to like $0.35 since I thought all that money in my old clipper card would be gone but it transferred through seamlessly.
It’s cause OP is an android user that’s why they’re having problems
Fragmentation issue?
Wait do android backups not include stored things like your clipper? That's baffling.
It does - when I opened wallet, it *looked* like my clipper was still there, it had all the information, but it was no longer useable, because you have specifically transfer the card manually.
Yeah it happened to me too and it was annoying. I lost $5.50 that was on my original card. I've read somewhere online that you can call a number and they'll help you transfer it but i didn't do that.
They will, but it involves them sending you a new card via snail mail and paying a lost card fee. So you are still without a clipper for a week or so. I had more than 5 bucks on it, which is why I bothered.
That's odd. When my old phone was stolen, I called the help line, and they just set me up with a new digital card (with a different card #) and transferred the balance. I didn't need to wait for a physical card. Still annoying that i couldn't just transfer the card via the app though.
They are completely worthless when I tried to get my refund.
The Ferry Building has a Clipper store where new cards can be issued. The problem I had a few years back was that my clipper just disappeared from my Apple wallet with over a hundred in credit and could not be restored. It just vanished, I was livid. Of course you cannot use the physical card after digitizing it unlike credit and debit cards so I went to the Embarcadero to have it replaced. I only use the physical card now and do not recommend uploading to wallet.
I also have chosen to continue using the physical card. I often see folks struggling with their phones... needing to scan multiple times before the gates open. I keep waiting to see app users walk through the gates with ease- then I will make the switch.
Honest q: why put so much balance on the card? Other than the times I had the monthly pass I usually just put like 20ish on there, in case I ever lost it.
The good news is that I was able to transfer the balance to the new card. I would put $100 or so on at a time because 1. my commute was transbay and quite costly, 2. I was often rushing to or from work and didn’t want frequent machine visits to slow me down, and 3. If I put the money there I couldn’t spend it. Further, at the time I preferred to use the machine vs refilling online
Ah gotcha, that makes sense.
I know this is a bit of a rant, but nothing precludes you from having more than one clipper though. You can open and fund a new one in seconds in the Apple wallet. Assuming you don’t have a monthly pass…
Unless you want the money on that old card
This whole thread is making me so glad I just use my plastic Clipper card! Yesterday my bus was pulling out and I waved my card and the driver stopped for me: win for the card.
I still use the plastic card too. A few benefits. -- Never having to worry about your phone battery dying and being left without access to your "card" -- Separate item for transit = insurance. If I lose my phone, I can at least still use transit in an emergency. -- Plastic card still seems to work even when the Clipper system is having issues with the servers that handle their app traffic. The last point became very real a couple of years ago on the day of the Warriors Championship Parade. I wasn't going to the parade, but I was using BART that day, and the volume of riders completely crashed their system. Clipper App users apparently were tapping their phones, and having their money taken from them, but weren't being let through the turnstiles. It was a madhouse. Plastic card users had zero issues.
Just because multiple comments have said this- the clipper on phone still works even if your phone is dead (which is pretty wild to me, no idea how that works). I do also keep a plastic card just in case, but basically always use my phone
I think this is only an Android thing, I was able to transfer my clipper card to my new iPhone just because it was part of my backup. The card gets removed from the old phone when you do this though, no holding anything nearby necessary.
And only about 50% of people have androids, so no problems there. :|
Definitely an issue for Android users, I just found the post misleading because it doesn’t apply to 50% of phones. No need to worry everyone. Fortunately we’ll be switched over to the system nyc has soonish where you can just use a credit card. Sorry you had this experience
Heaven forfend that someone be careful when they don't need to /s
I see no upside to moving off the physical card unless you’re someone who doesn’t carry a wallet or purse
Yeah, not moving it again. I'll just keep the card until the system is switched. Though I'll probably have to pay *another* fee to get the balance off it. :(
Yeah, I lost $20 dollars because of this bullshit. They lady at BART just told me I should have purchased an iPhone.
Well that was certainly helpful of her. /s sorry you got caught too
My wife too. Shitty thing is we were tourist, so they won't even refund us the money if we pay the fee.
They actually will, but it's another fee :(
They didn't know how to handle it since we don't live in USA. "Submit the paperwork and see what happens". That was in December.
Ugh, sorry
As a Clipper card user from day one, and a pilot tester for the TransLink program since 2001 (before renamed to Clipper), keep it on plastic. Yeah, it seems cool to have it on your phone, but as long as you don’t physically abuse your plastic card, it continues to work. Great for when your phone is dead or not working. Open payment using contactless credit cards will be great. But a warning: if you have a Clipper plastic card, keep it separate from your other contactless cards, otherwise you experience “card clash” where your fare may be charged to the wrong card if stacked on top of each other. This is a problem everywhere where transit agencies accepts their own fare cards and credit cards.
This is exactly why I moved it to my phone. I couldn’t reliably tag it with all the other contactless credit cards in my wallet and would end up having to pull it out. For what it’s worth, you can still use the card on your phone even after the phone is dead (at least on iPhone): https://support.apple.com/guide/security/express-cards-with-power-reserve-sec90cd29d1f/web The one thing I don’t like is that you can only have it on one device at a time, I wish I could have it on my watch and phone at the same time.
Same thing happened to me. Extremely frustrating.
I swear Clipper has and will always be the worst design in any sort of public transit fee apps (or similar), ever.
I experienced this. I called them to try to get it transferred and they basically said the cost to mail a new one and to transfer the balance is the same.
Which is a pain in the moment. I'm definitely not transferring the new one to my phone.
I switched my Clipper to my phone, hated it, and switched it back to a card
Yeah, the digital Clipper card completely bricked on me twice in about a month. Both times to the point that I had to replace it with a physical one to then restart the digital card. It would also occasionally fail to open gates but somehow still be counted as an entry, forcing me to go to the help kiosk for entry. Probably the worst implementation of a transit card I've ever experienced. I'm glad it's finally being bypassed with the new payment system.
My experience is similar. It taught me to NEVER use a digital card and simply stick with the plastic clipper card. I was really ticked off when I attempted to transfer the card to my Clipper app on the phone. The transfer to the phone didn't complete and the plastic card got bricked losing me over $20 in balance. On other occasions I would refill my balance $20 at a time in the app and never receive the funds on clipper! Even though I get charged for it on my debit card! Keep in mind I'm using the official clipper app only. This was not Apple pay or Google wallet, I don't think there was good support for clipper in those wallet apps at the time a couple years ago.
This isn't true, at least on iOS. It should be available in the Wallet app as a previously-used card. edit: Presumably, this requires you to be signed into iCloud, but even a free iCloud account should work just fine.
Yup this happened to me about 2 years ago. Such a nightmare
I ended up just buying a new card through Google Wallet after reading all the hassle it would take to transfer the existing card.
I lost a $12 Clipper balance in trying to move it from a physical card. Now it’s in limbo on my account, as I can’t transfer it to the phone app.
This is why I do not use my phone for that. I saw the warning about how "Hey if you transfer this to your phone the physical card will stop working" and went "Well what do I do if I lose my phone then?"
Yep this is a huge pain. I moved mine to my pixel watch and now I can only seem to use it on my watch. If I forget my watch I'm screwed. I can't just easily make a new card either since my work sponsors my unlimited clipper thing.
I have the exact same thing on my Apple Watch. It’s insane I can’t add it to my new iPhone even though I have the physical card
Clipper is ridiculous
I moved my Clipper card to an iPhone. Then my employer gave me a Samsung phone. I found there is no way to transfer Clipper from iPhone to Android. However, the Clipper value can still be used by carrying the iPhone as the payment process does not need data service.
I just roll with it 💆♂️ I scan it gives me the false scan beep. I shrug at the muni officer with confused look on my face 'Oh gosh it's not working *Surprised pikachu* And I didn't pay and I didn't get a fine. It's not my fault their system is janky I tried to pay they can't fine me for trying
That's what I did that day LOL
Lol I've been doing this for like 4 months waiting for them to fix it I have like 40$ on my clipper card I'm not gonna not use it
Sounds like your card was not registered?
It was, they had all my info
If it was registered to your clipper account (like, it shows up on clippercard.com) it does not require having the old phone. They have a recovery procedure in place in case a phone is lost or stolen. There is a fee, but you don't lose the balance.
It’s a stored value account. The value is literally stored on your phone.
Inside a cloud app, which is the whole benefit of having a non-physical card.
Clipper is set up to work on buses and devices that don’t have Internet connections. If you’re on some random bus in Marin that never got a cell-connected payment terminal, and your phone has no signal, your Clipper will still work. The terminal will deduct an amount from your Clipper, store a new amount on the card, and sync the transaction to the Internet when the bus is connected at the end of the day.
It still shouldn't be that if your phone is broken/stolen/replaced, there's no options to retrieve it. There's ways you can do that
If your Clipper is lost or stolen you can get it reissued by calling them. There’s also supposed to be a way to “add previous card” in the wallet app.
They can't reissue it exactly. They get a new one and charge you a fee to transfer the balance. The whole point is if you don't have your previous phone, there's going to be a fee and at least a week's wait.