Bay Area Rapid Transit, also known as BART, will be phasing out the paper tickets and replacing them with Clipper cards.

BART has already removed paper tickets in 19th Street, Embarcadero, Powell Street, and Downtown Berkeley and hopes to enact a systemwide expansion in the latter half of 2020.

Giovanni Estrada ’21 said, “I was afraid my paper card would be worthless but luckily I am able to use the last of the paper tickets.”

People may be worried about not being able to use paper tickets they already bought, but they are able to use their cards to enter and exit through the fare gates.

A Clipper card costs $3.00; commuters then have to add more money to the card to be used as fare. There is also an “autoload” option where commuters can link the Clipper card to their bank card, and have it add money whenever it falls below a certain amount, which cuts down on time at the machine loading dollar bills into the sometimes picky slots.

The Clipper card is worth three adult BART tickets, since an adult paper card is worth 50 cents, so the Clipper card would pay for itself within three round trips.

In addition to BART, the card works for most Bay Area public transit and offers discounts on different transit agencies.

Religion teacher Kenneth Swan said, “I find the Clipper card to be incredibly convenient. I can use it on BART, for both the transit and my parking, and on MUNI when I catch it in the early morning by Balboa Station.”

If someone loses the card, they will be able to retain the balance, but pay the nominal fee for a new Clipper card.

Jose Gonzalez ’21 said, “I lost my Clipper card that had $20 on it and I went on the Clipper website, and was able to get a new Clipper card with my balance.”

Along with the many benefits of the Clipper card, BART wants to reduce the waste of paper and introduce a more durable card.