Clipper Card Reviews

by Darylchu

My first problem was when I purchased the monthly pass on Sept 1st, and I was charged $81 three times. Customer service ended refunding the extra charges which apparently takes 30 days to refund.

My second problem happened last Friday (Sept 10th). After I cancelled auto load as I planned on purchasing monthly pass each month. However when I turned OFF auto load, it charged me 30 dollars. I should only be charged the $30 if my auto load is ON and my cash value falls under a certain amount. Clearly this should not have happened as I already have a monthly pass active and I have more than $10 on my Clipper card balance. I called customer service three times and each time they put me on hold to “check something for me” and ended up disconnecting each time. I ended up opening a dispute through my credit card company. It’s just not worth going through Clipper customer service because of their long wait times (anywhere between 15 to 40 minutes) and unreliable call connection. ClipperCard has too many bugs that affects my bank account, and is very confusing to use due to bad user experience design choices.

by JexaRob

I am only in San Francisco for a few days. I am a very experienced transit user and transportation professional. But even though I went through way too many steps to download ClipperCard , set up an account, and hook it up to a credit card, I literally can’t find any way to use ClipperCard to pay for transit trips. ClipperCard seems only to work if you already own an existing plastic Clipper card? And I was trying to avoid buying exactly that. Overall, I found it an incredibly frustrating experience and can’t believe that such an important city hasn’t figured out a better way to make using transit easy with a smart phone. I mean, it’s only the tech capital of the United States, after all…

by EV91111

transferred my card to apple wallet. seems simple enough just had to place the phone near the card. transfer went through. BUT for whatever reason the card disappeared from my apple wallet. called and the agent said he can’t help me if i can’t retrieve the a ‘previous’ card from the wallet. so basically the remaining balance i have in my card is lost. granted it’s a small amount but I hipe this serves as a warning for others and learn from my experience. i dont use bart that often anyway so i guess i’ll stick to paper tickets.

by Marconiusiii

The developers didn't test ClipperCard with VoiceOver and it is an appalling experience as a blind user. Just a lazily designed app done in React rather than being built natively, so a lot of core accessibility features are missing that would make the overall experience usable and actually accessible. Interface clutter, unhidden graphics and icons everywhere, very badly labeled tabs and buttons, getting transit info and directions is an absolute nightmare, just awful all around. Stop disregarding the blind user experience and stop releasing apps where accessibility is such a gross afterthought.

by Radiopixie

I need to travel in the Bay Area for one day only and was trying to make my trip easier by setting this up early but you have to have an IPhone 8 or newer to use a digital card, have to purchase a physical card otherwise. And it says you cannot buy cards at stations?? Going to have to track the stupid thing down in an unfamiliar airport cuz I hope they’d have one there somewhere 🙄. My hop card in Portland does not charge me extra to buy a physical card just because I don’t have five hundred dollars to buy a new phone every couple years. I’m comfortably using an iPhone SE and able to use public transport with it in Portland. What kind of nonsense is this. This is really inaccessible to people who have lower funds or may not be able to buy a card or only need one dang trip. It’s already way too expensive to use a card there based on mileage rather than time or per trip. 13 dang dollars instead of 10 for one stupid day that I won’t be back in the area for who knows how long, I haven’t been there in like six years already.

by Errrrrr.

I guess i can think ahead of time but 20 minutes before i tried loading funds so i can take my bus to work and ClipperCard never ended up loading for adding cash value, it just stayed stuck on loading for 20 minutes and i had no cash on me at the time (which also kills the entire point of digitally doing it) and all the while missed my bus. And no it wasn’t my wifi because everything else was working completely 100% fine and i had restarted my phone and everything. Not a professional app maker but ClipperCard is just developed like complete crap.

by Gracie's2557

I don’t understand why I cannot use my Clipper card for a day pass? I know I only save like $.50 round-trip but that $.50 is a lot when you’re on a fixed income and when you put money on your Clipper card and can’t use it for a day pass that’s money wasted and I’ve had to pay cash the last two times. Your app leaves a lot to be desired your phone system is only open during 9 to 5 business hours and there’s no one to contact. I asked the lady at the BART station why I couldn’t use my card on the bus for a day pass and she says you can’t you cannot use your Clipper card to get a day pass. Smh

by Drjohnson50

This is the worst excuse for an app I have ever encountered! I gave it 1 star & that is being extremely generous. Getting it 2 tag was worse that going 2 the dentist!! I was assured, Clipper customer service, that once I tagged successfully my pending cash value loads would be added to my account automatically. That didn’t happen & my $25 load ended up expiring! That’s unacceptable in the least! Now I’m going to have to argue w/ Clipper management to get my funds reimbursed. That will be an ALL DAY EVENT I’m sure. If I were U, & I’m not, I would avoid ClipperCard like its an incurable disease or worse!! But if U decide to venture forward & get ClipperCard , “May the Gods be w/ U & my heaven have mercy on u’re soul - Aman!

by Efersan

ClipperCard is useless, I have not been able to use it for much.
The Bart station attendant advised me not to link my card to it because it often doesn’t work: the readers won’t take it.
It won’t even load the amount of money you have on it, or your history trip, no matter how many times you try to refresh it. The last update it would show is from March 16 (April 18 is the date of this review).
Why do I need it if I still have to go to the Bart station to find out how much $ I have left on the card.
By the way, if you are on a hurry and you want to fill your card, DO NOT count on filling it with ClipperCard . The auto payment won’t load before 6 to 7 business days… sigh

by SmN2323

ClipperCard shows that if you add money in the clipper app to your Apple wallet in either ClipperCard or in your wallet that you will be able to gain access to those funds right away. But apparently that’s not correct according to the rude customer service representative I spoke with. So if the money is not available to be use from ClipperCard to your wallet right away and there’s a card being mailed to your house you should probably let the customer know in ClipperCard and not say that it’s available right away.

by C Elmo

We went to Sausalito after purchasing a card the night before. Got there and walked around and created an account online with the mobile app. The balance showed and we felt secured that we would make it home in good timing via the bus. Just before we went back to union square, we decided to check our clipper app. The balance was negative. 😳 So we added funds to our account. Once the bus arrived we got on the bus and funds still yet was not on our cards. We would have missed our bus if it wasn’t for some nice people.

Today, during Covid we don’t carry cash. The system for cashless travelers is not a sustainable system. Program needs to be upgraded to quickly update card payment info for users.

by Great Fun98754

My app says everything is fine but it won’t work. I call. Im told there’s a block a supervisor can lift. Im on hold for 40 minutes only to be told by the supervisor that they can’t do anything it’ll be up to 3 days for the hold to lift. I read the payment confirmation reference number but they can’t find it then like magic the payment is cancelled by Clipper. Amazing they couldn’t find something they then cancelled. So I didn’t get to work because I am not going to buy another clipper card for $3 then be charged another $5 to transfer balances to one card. So I could download ClipperCard and sign up immediately but once your a customer it takes up to 3 days for payment to hit your account?!?

Junk company and junk app.

by IowaTVman

We installed the Clipper app on my wife’s iPhone, set up an account, and established a virtual Clipper card with value. ClipperCard complained that the virtual card was not associated with any device, and asked us to add the card to Apple Wallet. Fine—except ClipperCard provides NO WAY TO DO THIS—unlike every other bank card and airline or hotel loyalty account that I’ve seen in the last 5 years. Apple Pay provides no way to add an existing virtual card, only a physical plastic card. After nearly an hour on the phone, the only thing the customer “service” rep could do is send us a new plastic card that we will immediately scan into my wife’s phone. Welcome to 1990.

It’s also a very poor transit planning app, and a waste of effort given that pretty much every transit agency under the MTC umbrella has apps that do the same thing, only better.

by Mts842

I’m in town on vacation, downloaded the clipper app, created a new account, registered a new clipper card, and added funds to it. When the screen prompted me to add the clipper card to my iPhone wallet, I agreed to the terms but it never loaded. After it froze, I had to restart ClipperCard and then the funds were gone. I never got an email confirmation that I registered a new card and loaded funds on it. But of course the charge went through on my credit card. Stupid me decided to try again but through the actual Apple wallet instead of the clipper app, but then it double charged my credit card! I tried to call customer service but it had a 40 minute wait!! I’m on vacation and do not want to spend 40 minutes waiting for someone to fix a shoddy app. Extremely frustrating that I lost money and missed the train.

by LG479194751

I really advice you not to add your clipper card to your apple wallet until clipper figures out a better workflow for situations where your phone gets lost.
I recently lost my phone (it was likely stolen), so I marked it as lost on the Find My iPhone app. Doing this immediately suspended my clipper card and nulled it unbeknownst to me.
I bought a new phone and was trying to set it up, and I couldn’t so I called Clipper support where they told me that they couldn’t help, I had to go and get a new clipper card at Embarcadero station to transfer my clipper balance to a new card. This also affects my commuter benefits because they are linked to my now suspended clipper card.
There really should be a more streamlined process for situations like this and I am kicking myself for putting my clipper card onto my phone. Had I know this was a possibility, I wouldn’t have added it to my apple wallet.

by Sugaree0621

Don’t bother with ClipperCard. I’m furious! I’m taking BART from the new Berryessa station in San Jose to SFO to catch a late morning flight. I’m disabled and need extra time to get to the train. The BART site linked me to ClipperCard where I’m supposed to be able to add fare to a virtual card to be stored in my Apple Wallet. ClipperCard seems very basic but as long as I get my ticket then I could care less how basic or extravagant the platform is. I got the total fare cost and was able to add $7.05 to my wallet for use to board BART in the morning. My bank pinged me that my transaction went through. However, when I saved my card to the wallet, I received an error message. I tried multiple times to refresh ClipperCard , but there was no trace of the $ taken from my bank account. And there are no weekend or evening customer service hours. So I’m stuck not knowing if I have a ticket or not until I get to the station. Trust me- just go to the station to buy your ticket. ClipperCard stinks

by GMGruman

The Clipper app does the same things as the Clipper website, and it’s not any better designed, so not doing anything worth a download. Fine to have, but not any more useful than the website.

Also, it does not let you pay for rides as strongly implied. You have to set up your Clipper card in Apple Wallet to do that; having the Clipper app is unneeded to do that.

Note that if you have the original TransLink cards, you cannot set them up in Apple Wallet. You’ll need to get a new Clipper card, transfer your balance and passes and commuter program autoloads to it, then set up in Apple Wallet. If the Clipper app was actually related to making payments, maybe that could all be avoided. But it’s not.

by Fixate

After following instructions to add a physical card to Apple Wallet and getting nowhere I thought I’d try ClipperCard . ClipperCard will let you add a card to Apple Wallet. Unfortunately it’s a new card, with a new balance! Only a transit agency would think its users wanted to own multiple cards with multiple balances instead of accessing a single account in the most convenient way. Adding a credit card, a coffee shop card, a pharmacy card, or a retail store card to Apple Wallet does not create a new account... but the folks at Clipper will!

by Nunu Love

ClipperCard is great especially now that we are in a pandemic you don’t have to touch much at the Bart station the only thing I don’t like is sometimesWhen I have to reload my card it takes a long time sometime I will have to delete ClipperCard altogether for to work when you’re in a rush to catch a train and found out you don’t have enough money and it takes so long for it to work to reload that’s not cool

by Hannerszzz

I like the ease of Clipper card for the Bay Area bart, but I preloaded my clipper card as a tourist.
I waited 90 minutes in a customer service phone call to find out that the balance I have left on my clipper card can only be refunded on my original form of payment as long as I pay an additional $5.00 cancel fee and return the physical card. This made no sense as I opted for the electronic card on my Apple wallet from ClipperCard Store.
From there Clipper Card will send me my refund in 30 days. My tip is only use what you need for your travels if you are from out of town.

by BrennanMKE

It is not safe to enter my debit card into a mobile app. Apple Pay is much more secure and should be used for autoloading my card. This is the whole reason I have a Clipper Card instead of making a payment at a kiosk every time. ClipperCard should be making transactions easier and more secure and it does the opposite.

by Immunoame

If you TRANSFER to Apple wallet, your plastic card will be deactivated! Many of us transit through stations where our phones should not be out (or specific occasions). I’ve seen several phones stolen on BART. I think this is unsafe and should not be the default. I was initially excited about this feature, but I can’t use it safely for my post-pandemic work commute.

by Bennett Wong

As I was on Clipper Card mobile website yesterday, I found information about the Clipper Card app. It is clearly genius and an innovative idea. Moving forward collaboratively, ClipperCard signifies convenience. It is a great time saver. Thank you for developing ClipperCard.

by QO_ol

I’ve been waiting for the Clipper Card to make it to ClipperCard store/wallet for years！ So far, this first week of use, it’s been flawless. Easy to set up, and easy to use & navigate.

by Maaz Hussaini

Feature Requests: (1) the ability to re-order cards under the cards tab. (2) the ability to use the same card for Apple Pay and Apple Watch.

by Oaktown Naturphilosoph

Thank you for keeping it simple. Looking forward to using it at the gates

by MrMonic

Smooth experience, especially buying a new card and adding to the wallet

by Mersdigosjohnson

Happy to see Clipper finally get its own App! Looking forward to a better commute.

by Hiphopvinyls1

I never thought I’d see the day, but here we are. The billion dollar cubic contract shows some results. Thank you SFMTA and MTC!

by Lilshioti_1013

Really great app!! I would highly recommend this to anyone. Made using transit much easier!!

by MAGAREDPILL45

Clean App, adding a plastic Apple Pay did take some time.

by TaylorGreenGold

I am really impressed with how easy it is to use ClipperCard. Great work!