Paper Tickets No Longer Accepted on Bus

News Articles
12/27/2010

Starting January 1, 2011, Local Adult 10-Ride and 31-Day tickets, and Local Youth/Senior/Disabled 10-Ride tickets are no longer accepted on the bus as fare payment.* Sales of these tickets stopped on November 1.

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AC Transit has changed the way some of its passengers pay their bus fare. Local Adult 10-Ride and 31-Day paper (magnetic-strip) tickets have been eliminated. If you’re a passenger who has been using these tickets, you will instead need to use a Clipper all-in-one transit card or pay cash to board the bus. Clipper is the new name for TransLink.

Also, 10-Ride Youth/Senior/Disabled paper tickets have been eliminated. If you have been using these tickets, you’ll be able to pay with a Clipper Youth card or with a Clipper-enabled Regional Transit Connection (RTC) card for Senior and Disabled passengers.** Of course, you can also pay with cash, or a monthly sticker on an RTC card.

Here are some details about the AC Transit ticket elimination.

Important dates. AC Transit and its retail vendors stopped selling paper tickets on October 31, 2010. As of January 1, 2011, these tickets are no longer accepted on the bus as fare payment.

Exchanging tickets. If you still have any of the three paper tickets that have been eliminated, you can exchange them in person at AC Transit’s downtown Oakland ticket office (1600 Franklin St., Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) or by downloading and mailing an online exchange form to AC Transit. Your tickets cannot be exchanged at a retail vendor location, and we encourage you to exchange any paper tickets you still have by February 28. Here’s a summary of what you can exchange:

- Unused Local Adult 31-Day tickets for an equivalent value on a Clipper card
- Partially-used or unused Local Adult 10-Ride tickets for cash on a Clipper card
- Partially-used or unused Local Youth/Senior/Disabled 10-Ride tickets for the equivalent value in 1-Ride tickets

In all cases, only tickets with current fare value will be exchanged, meaning that “old” tickets issued prior to the July 1, 2009 fare change will not be accepted.

Clipper cards are free for a limited time and will be mailed to you within about a week.

Employer-provided transit benefits. If you receive employer-provided transit benefits in the form of 10-Ride or 31-Day tickets, your transit benefits have been, or will be, transitioned to Clipper. Check with your employer’s transit benefits coordinator.

About Clipper

Clipper is the Bay Area’s reloadable card for paying transit fares and is currently accepted on AC Transit, BART, Muni, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit and Ferry, and Dumbarton Express. A Clipper card keeps track of the value on it and automatically deducts the right fare, including transfers and discounts. Any ticket or pass that you load onto a Clipper card has the same rules and functions as a paper version.

Adding value to a Clipper card. You can easily add cash value or load an AC Transit 31-Day pass (or pass from another agency) onto a Clipper card. You can do this at Clipper retail locations, including any Walgreens store, at transit agency ticket offices, and at Clipper Add Value Machines. If you’d like help the first time you load value on a card, just call 1-877-878-8883 (toll free) and a customer service representative will assist you. Staff at a transit agency ticket office can also help.

You can use cash, or a debit or credit card, when loading value on your card. The only time you must use a credit or debit card is when you decide to add value online at clippercard.com or by phone. You can also set up Autoload online and never have to think about adding value to your card again. Go online for more information about using your Clipper card on AC Transit, or call 1-877-878-8883 (toll free) to talk to a Clipper customer service representative.

*If you receive AC Transit paper tickets through your school or a social service agency, your particular tickets will still be valid as fare payment on the bus.

**If you’d like information by phone about how to get a personalized Clipper-enabled RTC card or Clipper Youth card, call 511, and say “AC Transit.”