Clipper(SM) Sets New Record for Daily Boardings

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The fast-growing Clipper(SM) system set another new usage record during the week ending Dec. 10, when the distinctive blue-and-white cards were used as payment for more than 325,000 boardings each weekday on Bay Area buses, trains and ferries. This marks an increase of about 5,000 passengers a day from the roughly 320,000 average weekday boardings in late November and a jump of more than 250,000 since the formal launch of the Clipper card in mid-June.

Clipper card readers will be activated on most San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) buses by Wednesday, Dec. 22. Other agencies in the Clipper network include San Francisco Muni, BART, AC Transit, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit & Ferry, and Dumbarton Express. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will join the Clipper network in early 2011.

San Francisco Muni accounted for an average of 177,350 Clipper boardings during the work week ending Dec. 10. Muni was followed by BART with 92,575 weekday boardings and AC Transit with an average of 40,600 Clipper boardings each weekday. Smaller numbers of passengers used Clipper cards to board Golden Gate Transit & Ferry and Caltrain vehicles.

BART is now shifting thousands of its regular customers to Clipper as the agency closes down the fare-payment capabilities of its proprietary EZ-Rider system. The station-by-station process began last week and is scheduled for completion on Dec. 22. Clipper customers can now use their cards to pay for daily fee parking at select BART stations. To establish a Clipper parking account, customers must register their cards at https://ezrider.bart.gov/ezrider/pre_registration.jsp.

AC Transit's paper 31-day adult pass is now available exclusively on Clipper and the agency will stop accepting the paper passes (as well as paper 10-ride tickets) after Dec. 31. Caltrain will make its monthly passes available only on Clipper in early 2011.

Riders can order a free Clipper card, add electronic value that is accepted on all participating transit systems, or add a monthly pass for a specific agency online at www.clippercard.com, by phone (1-877-878-8883) or TDD/TTY (711 or 1-800-735-2929), at select transit agency ticket offices, or at more than 200 participating retail locations — including the transit kiosk in the Embarcadero BART/Muni station and scores of Walgreens stores around the region.  A complete list of retail locations is available on the Clipper website. In addition to an Autoload option, Clipper also offers card replacement and balance restoration for customers who register cards that later end up lost or damaged. Registration is free and can be completed easily online, over the phone or by mail.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. MTC invites transit riders to follow Clipper on Facebook and/or Twitter for real-time communication about Clipper system services and operations.

SOURCE MTC