New Clipper plans include all transport modes, consistent fares, more transparency

A new Clipper agreement is making the rounds of transit agencies, promising a more assertive strategy and a more transparent process for Bay Area transit fare payment integration.

Stronger fare integration goals

The goals of the updated Clipper program will include “expanding electronic payment to all modes of transportation”, and “establishing consistent fare categories and discounts.”  In a recent round of discussions regarding the upcoming Clipper 2.0 upgrade being planned for 2019, there was substantial interest in integrating more transportation services ranging from vehicle parking and bike share to 3rd party carshare and rideshare services.

With regard to fare integration it is unclear how much integration the program is seeking – this could be focused changes like aligning the age requirements for youth passes, or broader integration like creating a regional day or month pass, as is found in other parts of the world with integrated transit systems.

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More transparent process with more power for transit agencies

Previously, Clipper had been managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, reporting to the MTC board. Under the new agreement, there will be a new board governing Clipper, with one representative from each of the major agencies using Clipper (Muni, BART, Caltrain/SamTrans, AC Transit, VTA, and Golden Gate), plus two representatives of the smaller agencies.  This board will be a Brown Act body, meaning that it will have public meetings and agendas, potentially with more opportunities for public review and feedback on the region’s fare and payment system.

MTC employees still manage the program, for now

The new organization’s Executive Director will be Carol Kuester, the MTC employee who has been managing the Clipper program to date. And the organization’s staffing will continue to be provided by MTC employees, for now. These functions will be up for review every three years, and can be delegated to a participating transit agency.

Next steps – MTC October board meeting

The agreement is making the rounds of transit agencies – it was approved uneventfully by the SamTrans and Caltrain boards over the last two days. It is expected to be up for review by the MTC board, which is expected to review this and broader transportation integration topics at its October board meeting.

Thanks to everyone who has been encouraging stronger transit integration as part of the Clipper 2.0 upgrade. If you strongly support Bay Area transit integration, this will be a good meeting to attend, listen to online, and thank the board for taking more steps toward transit integration.

We’ll post more about the October board meeting when its agenda is posted.

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11 comments

  2. Great news that they are considering regional daily and monthly passes. What would be really nice is an integrated zone system like commonly found in big European cities (London, Berlin) and even smaller ones like Essen.

    But the small step of creating regional passes will pave the way to a true zonal system. The only downside as that a regional pass will likely be priced so high it will only make sense for long journeys like San Jose to Antioch or San Rafael to Fremont.

  3. BTW Clipper 2.0 rolls out, we will have eliminated all the payment types they were designed for, create many new transportation paradigms, and we will be stuck with the same old card readers for another decade. I would like to see an “outsider” with a more forward looking vision of technology on the governing board. Clipper sounded amazing when I tested it in 2000. Too bad it didn’t actually roll out broadly till 2008. More than enough time for us to have internet on our phones, and all sorts of changes that they didn’t design for in that never-ending deployment.

    Onboard transit technologies move slowly, I’d like us to deploy something that won’t feel out of date at launch.

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