Bay Area: A Region on the Move

The Problem

Like the quintessential Californian, the San Francisco Bay Area is a region under constant transformation and flux. Spanning from Sonoma County to Silicon Valley, it comprises nine counties, each with a distinct identity ranging from cosmopolitan to rural. Every day nearly 1.5 million daily transit trips are taken via the region’s complex transit network of ferries, light rail, heavy rail, buses, and highways. With a highway system that has reached capacity – and no plans for expansion – a robust, flexible and convenient transit system is imperative, requiring cooperation and coordination among more than 20 transit operators in the region.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) goal was to make its new smart card relevant to its target market and incorporate some of the region’s history. In 2000, MTC conducted a trial of the TransLink card to provide commuters with a single smart card payment method that would someday be accepted on all Bay Area transit operators. The success of the trial led to the decision to implement region-wide. TransLink launched on five of seven major operators—Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (Muni), Caltrain, AC Transit, and Golden Gate Transit & Ferry. In 2009, MTC launched the TransLink transit fare payment system on five Bay Area operators, yet the system faced technical challenges.

Product

Clipper Card
Fare Collection System

Customer

MTC
San Francisco Bay Area

The Solution

Looking for a fresh start, MTC turned to Cubic and approved a reassignment of their current fare collection contract from the original contractor.

“Clipper” was selected to refer to the Clipper ships that were the preferred mode of transport during the Gold Rush of 1849, but also as a symbolic nod to the Bay Area’s rich mining history and a positive connotation of mobility. Cubic stabilized and scaled the back-end system, integrated new equipment important to individual operators, delivered the final two major operators—SamTrans and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)—and became an integral partner in the successful operation of the Clipper system.

Cubic manages the development of new applications, media management and distribution, operation of the Clipper call center, field services support and asset management, revenue management, transit benefits, and support of the retail network that provides an additional channel for customers to purchase Clipper cards.

“I am happy with the way our contract is working today and level of commitment Cubic has demonstrated on this project,” said Andrew Fremier, deputy executive director of operations, MTC.

Learn More About Fare Collection & Revenue Management

The Results

Cubic helped MTC rebuild confidence in the system by delivering much-needed equipment to major operators and committing to expand the system to full implementation.

The new Clipper brand was launched in 2010. After SamTrans and VTA were complete, Cubic began implementing Clipper on small operators in the region: County Connection, Fairfield-Suisun Transit (FAST), Marin Transit, San Francisco Bay Ferry, SolTrans, Tri Delta Transit, Vacaville City Coach, VINE, WestCAT and Wheels. Today the Clipper card accounts for approximately 20 million fare transactions each month totaling over $40 million in monthly revenue. In 2016, Petaluma Transit, Santa Rosa CityBus, Sonoma County Transit and Union City Transit began accepting Clipper, and the new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) service was the first in the region to be Clipper-only.