TransLink (San Francisco Bay Area)
Encyclopedia
Contactless smart card
A contactless smart card is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits that can process and store data, and communicate with a terminal via radio waves. There are two broad categories of contactless smart cards. Memory cards contain non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps...
used for electronic transit fare payment in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. First introduced as Translink in 2002 by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area)
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is a regional planning, financing, and funding government agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was created in 1970 to coordinate the transit systems in the area's nine counties...
(MTC) as a pilot program, Clipper was rebranded into its current form and launched in 2010. Clipper is being rolled out gradually; as of July 2011, seven transit agencies accept the card.
In October 2010, the MTC selected 路路通 (Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Lùlùtōng) as the official Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
name for the Clipper Card.
History
In 1993, Bay Area Rapid TransitBay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
(BART) and County Connection
County Connection
The County Connection is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit service in and around central Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area...
launched a pilot program named Translink (not to be confused with the later incarnation) that allowed the use of a single fare card between the two systems. Using magnetic stripe
Magnetic stripe card
A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card...
technology, the card was envisioned to eventually include all Bay Area transit agencies under its umbrella. However, due to technical problems, the program was abandoned two years later.
The project as initially undertaken in 1993 had a projected capital cost of $4 million; in its current conception was expected to cost $30 million. Since then, costs have increased—current forecasted 25-year capital and operations costs are estimated at $338 million. In addition, schedule delays have added up to more than a decade. In 1998, TransLink (now Clipper) was to be available on all transit agencies by 2001. However, in 2009, it was fully operational on five, and not expected to be available regionwide until 2010 or later.
The Clipper card was developed by Australian-based ERG Group and Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
under the ERG-Motorola alliance in April 1999, and is considered to be the largest smart-card project in the United States. However, upon the launch of Clipper, Cubic Transportation Systems
Cubic Transportation Systems
Cubic Transportation Systems is an American public corporation providing automated fare collection equipment and services to the mass transit industry...
has taken over administration of distribution, customer service, and financial settlement of the program.
In general, the rollout of Clipper has been much slower than that of similar contactless smart card
Contactless smart card
A contactless smart card is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits that can process and store data, and communicate with a terminal via radio waves. There are two broad categories of contactless smart cards. Memory cards contain non-volatile memory storage components, and perhaps...
s cards including Oyster card
Oyster card
The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands...
and SmarTrip
SmarTrip
SmarTrip is a plastic contact-less stored-value smart card used for payment within the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system in Washington, D.C...
, chiefly due to bureaucratic difficulties.
Usage
Clipper is fully functional for seven transit agencies:- AC TransitAC TransitAC Transit is an Oakland-based regional public transit agency serving the western half of Alameda County and parts of western Contra Costa County in the western, Bay-side area of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
, including Dumbarton ExpressDumbarton ExpressThe Dumbarton Express is a California bus service operating between Union City BART station and Palo Alto Caltrain station via the Dumbarton Bridge. The service is operated by a group of operators including BART, VTA, Union City Transit, and AC Transit... - Bay Area Rapid TransitBay Area Rapid TransitBay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
(BART) - CaltrainCaltrainCaltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...
- Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation DistrictGolden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation DistrictThe Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is a quasi-governmental corporation that owns and operates three regional transportation assets in the San Francisco Bay Area:* Golden Gate Bridge* Golden Gate Transit* Golden Gate Ferry...
(Golden Gate TransitGolden Gate TransitGolden Gate Transit is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It mainly serves Marin and Sonoma Counties, and also provides limited service to San Francisco and Contra Costa County.Golden Gate Transit is one of three...
and Golden Gate FerryGolden Gate FerryGolden Gate Ferry is one of three transportation systems owned and operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The other two are the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Transit bus service, which connects San Francisco to Marin County...
) - SamTransSamTransSamTrans is a public transport agency in and around San Mateo, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides bus service throughout San Mateo County and into portions of San Francisco and Palo Alto...
- San Francisco Municipal RailwaySan Francisco Municipal RailwayThe San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
(Muni), except cable carsSan Francisco cable car systemThe San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California... - Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthoritySanta Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityThe Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...
(VTA)
Clipper cards can be used on Muni's cable cars only if a valid monthly pass is loaded; otherwise, cash fare must be used.
Several important transit agencies serving the area that have not joined the system include Altamont Commuter Express
Altamont Commuter Express
The Altamont Commuter Express is a regional rail service in California connecting Stockton with San Jose....
(ACE), Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
, County Connection
County Connection
The County Connection is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit service in and around central Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, Tri-Delta Transit
Tri-Delta Transit
Tri Delta Transit, also known as Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, is the local public transportation provider for the eastern area of Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, U.S.A.. It provides local bus service in the communities of Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch,...
, WestCAT
WestCAT
WestCAT is a public transportation service in western Contra Costa County . It is a service of the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority....
, and WHEELS
WHEELS (California)
WHEELS is a bus service that provides public transportation in the Tri-Valley Region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the United States...
.
On June 16, 2010, TransLink changed its name to Clipper, and has since rolled out logo changes to cards and card readers everywhere they previously existed. Upon the launch of Clipper, the maximum amount of e-cash permitted is $250, up from the original $100 under the TransLink branding when adding value over its website, but the maximum amount on any Clipper card is still confined to $300.
Statistics
Approximately 182,000 cards have been distributed throughout the region as of August 2009. The average number of weekday transactions in that month was 31,850. AC Transit riders accounted for about 44% of the riders using Clipper, Golden Gate TransitGolden Gate Transit
Golden Gate Transit is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It mainly serves Marin and Sonoma Counties, and also provides limited service to San Francisco and Contra Costa County.Golden Gate Transit is one of three...
and Ferry accounted for 31%, Muni riders 21%, and BART and Caltrain together under 4% (both systems began accepting TransLink in August 2009).
Each transit agency has conducted surveys of its customers to determine customer satisfaction. Below are some highlights of the findings:
- AC Transit: 89.9% of customers surveyed would recommend Clipper to a friend. (May 2008)
- Golden Gate Transit: 85.5% of customers surveyed are satisfied or very satisfied. (October 2008)
- Muni: 82.9% of customers surveyed are satisfied or very satisfied, and 92.1% would recommend Clipper to a friend. (Summer 2009)
Results for BART and Caltrain are not yet available.
Adding funds
The Clipper Card can be remotely loaded with funds either online or by telephone. Remote loading does not occur instantaneously; instead it takes 3-5 business days to transfer funds from a bank account or credit card to the Clipper Card. The Clipper Card site says that this delay is due to the need for the pass or cash value to be batched up and distributed to the various card readers, allowing the credit to be applied to the card the next time you use it. However, adding both e-cash and various transit agency passes to a card can be done at ticket machines present in all BART and Muni stations, as well as other retail outlets. These purchases take effect immediately.Automatic loading of e-cash and some passes ("autoload") can be pre-authorized. When the card balance falls below $10 or a pass expires, additional funds are automatically transferred with no delay.