San Francisco's Clipper card to support Apple Pay Express Transit

San Francisco Bay Area residents will soon be able to use Apple Pay on their Clipper cards to catch a ride on transit services like BART and Muni, with the coming payments integration also set to support streamlined service via Express Transit Mode.

Announced through Apple's website, Apple Pay will soon see implementation with the Clipper card, the standard in electronic transit fare payment for the Bay Area.

Clipper is currently used by more than 20 transit agencies including BART, Caltrain, FAST, Muni, VINE, and WestCAT.

When Apple Pay integration rolls out, riders will be able to use Express Transit Mode and tap their provisioned iPhone or Apple Watch to a payment terminal without first unlocking the device via Touch ID or Face ID. Apple notes Express Transit will not be available on SFMTA cable cars and other transit services that utilize handheld card readers.

When activated in Wallet, Express Transit enables riders to simply tap their iPhone or connected Apple Watch on an active turnstile or payment point to enter train stations and buses without first unlocking the device. The functionality has been adopted by major transit authorities including New York's MTA, the LA Metro, and Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as well as Hong Kong's Octopus Card.

Apple does not offer a timeline for release, though users can sign up to receive an email when the service goes live.

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6 Comments

anome

said about 3 years ago

Seems like it should have happened sooner.

I'll have to see if I can get mine to work. Then again, I haven't been in the Bay Area for 5 years or something. When this whole pandemic thing is over, I intend to go back.

cpsro

said about 3 years ago

“riders simply tap their iPhone”
or tap an iPhone they “found” ;-)

JinTech

said about 3 years ago

anome said:

Seems like it should have happened sooner.

I'll have to see if I can get mine to work. Then again, I haven't been in the Bay Area for 5 years or something. When this whole pandemic thing is over, I intend to go back.

I've been waiting years for this! It's about time. Will be interesting to see how this works. Last time I was at BART in one of the east bay locations they did appear to have an NFC reader at the ticketing booth. I didn't test it but I assume that's what it is.

It would be nice if this just taps into your bank account so you do not even need to load the Clipper card but knowing Clipper, I am sure it will not be that easy :s

slprescott

said about 3 years ago

Does anyone here have experience using Apple Pay at NY, DC, or LA?

I’m curious about the speed. When this concept first emerged, there was some concern of it causing human backups in busy turnstiles if Apple Pay was slower than traditional transit cards. Hopefully that concern never materialized.