Clipper 2.0 Is Here. Glitches Have Plagued the Rollout

It’s been a rocky start for the much-anticipated “next generation” Clipper transit fare system, as glitches with the website and app have flustered some users.

Since Wednesday, when the new Clipper went live, users have reported being unable to access their account information and launch a manual upgrade.

“ I tried probably dozens of times yesterday and several times today and have gotten into various points in the system, but have still not been successful at activating it,” said El Cerrito Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman, a former member of the BART board of directors.

Next generation Clipper promises new features such as discounted transfers, family accounts and instant availability of added funds.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the regional agency that manages Clipper, has said all accounts will eventually be automatically upgraded to the new version, but that process could take anywhere from eight to 12 weeks. The MTC previously encouraged users who wanted the new features as soon as possible to manually upgrade using the Clipper website or app.

By Wednesday morning, MTC spokesperson John Goodwin said the service was experiencing issues.

“We acknowledge some customers are having a glitchy experience in the Clipper mobile app this morning, and some customers have been unable to complete the process of upgrading their cards to the next-generation system,” Goodwin said.

Thursday afternoon, a KQED call to Clipper customer service was met with an automated response that said, “We currently cannot look up customer information.” Login attempts got a message that read, “We are unable to migrate your account to the new Clipper account system.”

Goodwin said Wednesday that the transition was going well overall. Contactless payment using a debit or credit card, another long-awaited upgrade from the next generation system, was working as expected on all transit agencies that also accept Clipper, he said.

Both the MTC and Cubic, a transportation company that holds the contract to run Clipper, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday, seeking updates to the ongoing issue.

Despite the challenges with the rollout, Saltzman said she’s excited about the updates.

“ Me and my wife and my daughter are probably going to do some transit trips we wouldn’t have done before because it could get quite expensive if you’re riding multiple transit agencies with multiple people,” Saltzman said. “ It’s an opportunity to explore the Bay Area in different ways.”

Some transit advocates, meanwhile, point out that riders who pay with cash or are unable to obtain a Clipper card are being left behind.

“ Unfortunately, the system doesn’t work for people who are low-income and unbanked and live in neighborhoods that don’t have access to reload their card,” said Laurel Paget-Seekins, senior transportation policy advocate at Public Advocates, a nonprofit civil rights and economic justice law firm.

Paget-Seekins and others are advocating for AC Transit, one of the Bay Area’s most popular transit agencies, to find ways to extend next-generation Clipper benefits to all riders, regardless of how they pay.