When you hear “Silicon Valley,” the first thing that comes to your mind is ‘the hub of technology and innovation’. But when you are having public transit, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, you always need a physical tap-to-pay card to let yourself onto any form of public transit. However, it’s changing now as Silicon Valley’s Clipper all-in-one transit card has finally added Apple Pay. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Thursday launched the Clipper card on iPhone and Apple Watch, and also debuted a new mobile app for easier management of the regional transit-fare payment card.
Starting April 15th, the Clipper transit-fare payment card supports Apple Pay, including its Express Mode. The Express Mode allows you to pay without even needing to wake the device or open an app. This new move from MTC will prove to be very helpful for public transit users, as you can now use almost any recent iPhone (iPhone 8 and newer) or Apple Watch to board BART, Muni, Caltrain, VTA, and even the ferry. Clipper is available throughout the Bay Area for buses, trains, and ferries and with the Clipper card in Wallet, you can go anywhere faster with just your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Clipper Card and Apple Pay
While Apple Pay is now supported by the Clipper Card, it still has some caveats. One of the main shortcomings is that you can only load any Clipper Card onto a single device. This means that you cannot share it across an iPhone and an Apple Watch simultaneously. Further, this feature does not work on older iPhones, you’ll need an iPhone 8 or later. Even on Apple watches, you need an Apple Watch Series 3 or later.
Currently, the Clipper card has come to Apple devices only, but MTC has also announced that Android users will see similar capabilities via Google Pay in May. When it comes to Android devices, users will be able to buy a card directly through Google Maps. You can check more details about the transit here.
