BART Is Bay Area’s First Tap and Ride System

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) has become the Bay Area’s first Tap and Ride system, enabling 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. 

“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 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.”  

Tap and Ride functionality for BART riders marks the first step in the transition to the next generation of the Bay Area’s Clipper electronic transit-fare payment system being implemented by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission 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.