Can you transfer (off and on) the cable cars with a clipper card? (Oakland: sales)

[mamainfl]

Or, is it a new fare each time you board?

[neutrino78x]

I have not been on a cable car in years, but it's public transit, and all the transit in bay area uses clipper.

"Clipper is the all-in-one transit card for the Bay Area. Use your Clipper card on all Bay Area transit systems, including Muni. "

https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/fares

[artemis78]

You can use Clipper, but it is priced per ride ($7) every time you board.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by mamainfl

Or, is it a new fare each time you board?

As a visitor you can buy a 1,3 or 7 day muni visitor passport. This will allow for multiple cable car rides with one pass. The 1 day passport is only $12 as a phone app from Muni Mobile but $23 for the paper pass.

https://www.sfmta.com/fares/1-day-visitor-passport

https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/fares

"A Visitor Passport can be purchased at ticket kiosks, on Clipper, via MuniMobile ® and sales locations for 1, 3, or 7 consecutive days of unlimited rides on Muni, Muni Metro, historic streetcars, and cable cars"

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/muni/faq.do

How do I use Clipper on the cable cars?

Simply hand your Clipper card to the conductor. The conductor will use a handheld card reader to confirm that your card has a valid pass or Passport or, if it doesn't, to deduct the appropriate fare from your card's cash value balance.

You can create a Clipper Card account and then you can go online and buy a pass that's added to it, or you can add cash to it.

[summer99]

You can buy a 1,3 or 7 day pass (you can buy the pass in either a Clipper card format <cheaper> or a paper format <more expensive>). These passes include cable car rides and the rides are unlimited.

If you don't buy a pass, then the fare to ride the cable car is $7 per cable car ride. I suggest you buy a day pass and buy the pass in the Clipper card format, not the paper format.

[DeanoSF]

Beware--there is a less expensive Muni day and multi-day pass now that does not include the cable car. It does include the F street cars, however.

In any case, if you are riding cable cars using only cash value on a Clipper card, you will be charged $7.00 per ride. If you have a Muni pass of some kind linked to a Clipper Card that includes the cable car (daily or monthly) you may ride the cable car as often as you like and it is included in the price of the pass.

For instance, I carry both a monthly Muni pass and a cah value on my Clipper card. The Muni pass ($79/month, I believe) allows me to ride the cable car every day, plus buses, Muni Metro light rail and the historic street cars as often as I like.

The cash value I carry on my Clipper Card gives me a commuter price on the ferry to Oakland ($5.00 versus $7.50 each way, I believe) and also covers me whenever I need to take BART (BART service for travel beyond SF is not covered under any Muni monthly plan).

Clipper cash values can also be used tagging on any other local transit agency vehicles and sometimes offer discounted rates or transfers versus using cash or single ride tickets.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by DeanoSF

Beware--there is a less expensive Muni day and multi-day pass now that does not include the cable car. It does include the F street cars, however.

In any case, if you are riding cable cars using only cash value on a Clipper card, you will be charged $7.00 per ride. If you have a Muni pass of some kind linked to a Clipper Card that includes the cable car (daily or monthly) you may ride the cable car as often as you like and it is included in the price of the pass.

For instance, I carry both a monthly Muni pass and a cah value on my Clipper card. The Muni pass ($79/month, I believe) allows me to ride the cable car every day, plus buses, Muni Metro light rail and the historic street cars as often as I like.

The cash value I carry on my Clipper Card gives me a commuter price on the ferry to Oakland ($5.00 versus $7.50 each way, I believe) and also covers me whenever I need to take BART (BART service for travel beyond SF is not covered under any Muni monthly plan).

Clipper cash values can also be used tagging on any other local transit agency vehicles and sometimes offer discounted rates or transfers versus using cash or single ride tickets.

Ack. This just goes to show how unnecessarily complicated the system is.

[DeanoSF]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Ack. This just goes to show how unnecessarily complicated the system is.

Agree wholeheartedly. At a minimum, BART, Muni and AC Transit should all be joined as one transit agency, with a single fare zone. I think the SF Bay Ferry system should be in there, too, but I understand why their fare should be different.

Of course, joining these agencies would necessitate removing the Cable Car from the single fare zone system, which would make it a tourist-only proposition (and an even more expensive and less frequently running one). As a daily rider and huge fan of the Cable Car, I'd sacrifice it from my commute for a simpler, more affordable and more reliable single transit agency.

[davdaven]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Ack. This just goes to show how unnecessarily complicated the system is.

It depends on your perspective. Cable cars are very touristy, and Muni charges a premium to use them because everybody and their brother wants to take them when they visit. Passports are tourist products, so they aren't even worth thinking about in the context of locals paying to ride public transit.

Muni received complaints for a long time that they didn't have short-term passes for people who didn't want to pay the huge markup to ride cable cars. Thus the new passes were born, which are good on everything but cable cars at a price that is very reasonable. The target audiences are tourists who aren't near cable car lines, and Bay Area locals that have to do a lot of sudden travel in SF. For example, maybe somebody who normally works in Oakland but has to spend a week doing stuff in SF.

If you are a local, it's best to think of riding Muni as a cash vs. Clipper question. If you ride all the time, you get a pass, which is available on Clipper. If you ride only occasionally, you pay with cash or e-cash on Clipper. Clipper gives you a better price either way, so Clipper is the best option for locals. Not to mention the cards are good on all Bay Area transit agencies. Regular ol' cash is available because it's required by law and there are some people who still live in the technological dark ages.

P.S. I do agree that Bay Area fares are overly complicated. There's no reason why there should be special rules or different fare numbers on Muni vs. AC Transit, etc. But that's local politics at its finest!