Huge win for riders with Tap and Ride coming to BART allowing riders to pay with contactless payment methods, including bank cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay

A new day for riders arrives Wednesday, August 20, as BART becomes the Bay Area’s first Tap and Ride system. Starting with tomorrow morning’s commute, Tap and Ride will provide riders the ability to pay adult fares at BART fare gates using physical contactless credit or debit cards or mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. With Tap and Ride, riders will no longer need to use a Clipper card to ride BART.  This will be an immense timesaver for riders who can now use their contactless bank cards to ride BART with zero registration or setup process required. 

“Tap and Ride follows the installation of Next Generation Fare Gates, running only Fleet of the Future trains, boosting cleaning, and increasing our visible safety presence as efforts that are transforming the BART experience,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “This is an especially important innovation for out-of-town visitors and infrequent riders who may not have a physical or digital Clipper card and want a simple way to use our service.” 

“Right now, San Francisco is seeing real momentum, and you can feel it across the city—on our streets, in our businesses, and in the energy downtown. And we are continuing this momentum by giving residents and visitors an easy, reliable way to get to the heart of our city,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Tap and Ride will make it faster and easier than ever to take BART into and around San Francisco, and it will help drive our city's recovery.”

Tips for using Tap and Ride on BART 

Cards accepted for Tap and Ride on BART include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover Network. Physical bank cards must be contactless enabled, with the contactless symbol on either the front or back of the card. Riders can also use bank cards added to digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay to Tap and Ride.  

When paying with a contactless bank card, riders will be charged full adult fares, and riders with eligibility-based discounts, such as Clipper START or youth and senior discounts, must continue using their physical or digital Clipper card. Transfer discounts will not be available with Tap and Ride until the feature is rolled out to the Bay Area’s other transit agencies. Riders transferring from BART to a connecting transit agency are advised to use their physical or digital Clipper card to receive the current transfer discounts.  

Each rider must pay with their own card or device, and they must use the same card or device to tap in and tap out of the BART system. If family members have the same credit card number but they are on different cards and devices, they will be able to use it. 

Tap and Ride going Bay Area wide 

Tap and Ride functionality for BART riders marks the first step in the transition toward the long-awaited next generation of the Bay Area’s Clipper® electronic transit-fare payment system being implemented by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and participating Clipper transit agencies. Contactless bank cards soon will be accepted by the nearly two dozen other Bay Area transit agencies that accept Clipper for fare payment. Once the next generation of Clipper is rolled out Bay Area wide, Tap and Ride will include all discounted fares and transfers between transit services. 

“MTC and the Bay Area transit agencies will be rolling out a number of other improvements to the Clipper fare payment system in the coming months,” said MTC Chair and Pleasant Hill Mayor Sue Noack. “This early rollout of contactless bank card acceptance on BART is an example of MTC’s commitment to making transit fare payment easier for riders across the region.”  

BART now accounts for about half of all Bay Area transit trips paid for using Clipper. In 2019, the agency retired paper tickets and began accepting only Clipper card fare payments. 

How to avoid card clash 

Card clash occurs when a Clipper reader detects more than one card at a time, which can result in card reader errors (i.e., three beeps, red light and tap again messages) or having the wrong card charged. This applies to both Clipper cards and contactless bank cards, including cards stored in digital wallets.   

To avoid card clash, users of physical cards should remove their card from their wallet or purse before tapping. Riders using Apple Pay to Tap and Ride can easily enable Express Mode for their credit or debit card by accessing the Wallet and following the steps. Those with a Clipper Card already added to Apple Wallet who would prefer to use Tap and Ride to pay for transit must turn off Express Mode for Clipper card. 

Android devices will automatically present the digital Clipper card if the user has one in Google Wallet. Android device users can override this feature and pay with Tap and Ride by navigating to their desired bank card before tapping on a Clipper card reader.  

Starting August 20, customers can call the Clipper Customer Service Center at 877-878-8883 for assistance using contactless bank cards. Customers also may visit the Clipper Contactless Payments webpage to learn more. A new website feature allows customers to get a list of recent contactless transit-fare payment transactions.  

Learn more about how to use Tap and Ride at bart.gov/contactless