Tuesday, May 3, 2011

SF State Folks Using Clipper Card on BART - Read this!


I got an e-mail from a SF State staff member and she told me of a curious problem with Clipper when exiting the Daly City Station.

She mentioned to me the problem stems from SF State students, faculty, and staff who utilizes the free campus shuttle away from the station, and uses Muni's 28 or 28L to get back to the train station.

When exiting the BART station with your Clipper card, it is automatically encoded for a free round-trip away and to Daly City station. But when you use the SF State shuttle or do not use the Clipper card on Muni away from Daly City station after one hour, the return free ride on Muni is automatically voided, thereby charging the passenger the full $2 ride back to the station.

In one point of view, it's not fair as the SF State shuttle and Muni's 28 line are like brothers and sisters, they take SF State folks to and from campus in quick fashion. But in a devil's advocate view, the automatic voiding of the free ride back is legitimate because let's assume that a friend picked-up someone from the Daly City station, and the person took Muni the next day to the station; Muni shouldn't be giving the passenger a free ride because the person didn't utilize Muni leaving the station in the first place.

Since SF State students have an option to take Muni's 28 or the SF State shuttle, this is likely why Daly City BART still offers paper Muni transfers inside their paid area.

Best advice for SF State students, staff, and faculty: Always take a paper transfer before exiting BART, even if you use a Clipper card. At least your return trip on Muni will be a guaranteed free ride back.

3 comments:

  1. ErikMay 3, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Isn't the BART->Muni transfer supposed to be a 25-cent discount good for only one hour? Why should it be a free ride for all day?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 14, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    I do not use BART all that much, but at some if not all stations, one can get a free Muni ticket inside the BART paid area. The ticket is good for one free Muni ride away from the BART station and one free ride back to the BART station. Transfer is not issued when using said ticket. Now that I think of it, I wonder how PoP will work without a transfer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AkitMay 14, 2011 at 10:29 PM

    Anonymous:

    No BART station within SF issues paper transfers anymore for Muni discount rides. Daly City still does.

    ReplyDelete

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