Starting on Aug. 15, 2022, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and BART began to offer  free Clipper BayPasses, giving over 50,000 Bay Area students access to free transit on bus, rail, and ferry.

This pilot program was created by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area transit agencies. The program’s purpose is to identify how much Clipper Cards are used and their impact.

“Public transit affects my life in a huge way. Growing up in San Francisco, Muni and Bart were my main source of transportation,” said ASL III teacher Sabrina Andreatta.

According to BART, “this limited distribution, which will be based on random assignment, is designed to measure the impact on travel of an all-system pass when compared to students not using Clipper BayPass.”

San Francisco native, Deanie Cooper ’24 said, “I think it’s really beneficial to younger people especially because it’s affordable to get all across the city.”

It is already confirmed that students at San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, UC Berkeley, Santa Rosa Junior College, and select residents in MidPen Housing will be given the Clipper BayPass.

“Public transportation is still a large factor in my life as I take it to Riordan every day. I have to plan my commute around Muni and Bart every day. I think it’s important that in larger cities with people of various economic statuses to have access to affordable transportation,” added Andreatta.

According to BART, “[the] MTC will provide funds to transit agencies to offset the revenue impacts of the Clipper BayPass pilot.”

This program will last over 18 months in hopes to create a friendly customer environment.