After a disheveled rollout of the Bay Area’s public transit fare payment system last December, transit leaders are cautiously optimistic that the contracted vendor and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will complete the remaining fixes before decommissioning the old fare payment system.
Officials at the MTC, which oversees and administers the Clipper card fare payment system, have not yet set a date to retire the old system and move fully to Clipper 2.0, as critical issues remain, according to a presentation at the Clipper Executive Board meeting on Monday.
Angus Davol, assistant director of Clipper development and budget with the MTC, outlined some remaining challenges before migrating to Clipper 2.0, including needed fixes to fare inspection devices. Davol said a software update for the devices is expected in about two weeks.
He added that Cubic, the vendor contracted with the MTC to upgrade the Clipper system, is working on fixes for card taps not recognized during fare inspections, citing the need for fixes on certain validators. The presentation said devices may show errors for credit or debit card taps or incorrect negative fare payment results.
Other critical issues that still need to be resolved before fully implementing Clipper 2.0 include financial settlements with transit agencies related to the rollout of the new system, Davol said.
Nearly 4 million cards have been migrated to Clipper 2.0, and 65 percent of trips on Clipper are being processed through the new fare payment system.
BART General Manager Bob Powers, who has lambasted both Cubic and the MTC for the bungled launch of Clipper 2.0 and the delays, took a different tone at Monday’s meeting.
“I think we’re on the right path,” Powers said. “I do feel good about the way the direction this is going in, and I can see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Julie Kirschbaum, director of transportation for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, urged the MTC and Cubic to resolve the remaining issues, including the fixes for the fare inspection devices, but added that she was excited to start seeing the migration of discounted passengers to the upgraded system.
“The fare inspection devices seem to be the ones that are foiling us the most, but you’ve got me excited about bulk migration by showing all of our thoughtful priorities, and I think they stand,” Kirschbaum said.
Some Clipper customers continue to use the official Bay Area Clipper subreddit on the social media platform Reddit to submit issues while staff tries to troubleshoot. A person did speak during public comment at the meeting, stating that they had lost $550 in transit benefits, adding that Clipper customer service agents have yet to find a resolution. MTC staff did meet with that person during the meeting, but it was not clear if the issue was resolved.
There have been improvements with wait times for customers calling the customer service center, Davol said. Wait times to the call center have improved, with customers on average waiting up to 90 seconds. Average call times were nearly 30 minutes in January.
An ongoing social media campaign is taking place to instruct customers with registered cards on how they can upgrade to the fare payment system on their own, as well as how to check balances and trip history.
