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3w ago

Clipper System Outage Forces Bay Area Transit to Offer Free Rides

MTC and Cubic investigate the outage’s cause during a service restoration effort

A BART commuter passes through the fare gate that was left open because of a Clipper outage on July 1, 2025.
BART was forced to open fare gates across the network, including here at the Powell Street station, and offer free rides due to a Clipper card outage on July 1, 2025.
Clipper experienced an outage on all transit operators on July 1, 2025.
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Overview

  • The Clipper payment network suffered a total failure just before 5 a.m., disrupting transactions for more than 800,000 daily Bay Area riders.
  • BART, San Francisco Muni and other operators opened fare gates and waived fares to maintain service after the outage struck alongside scheduled fare hikes.
  • Fares increased Tuesday on Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit and Ferry, raising concerns over lost revenue during the system failure.
  • The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Cubic Transportation Systems have launched an investigation and are deploying fixes to fully restore Clipper service.
  • MTC has pledged to compensate transit agencies for fares lost during the outage as pressure mounts over delayed Clipper 2.0 modernization plans.