Wednesday, September 8, 2010

VTA, CalTrain and Clipper, part 2

I heard back from VTA.

Clipper will not be accepted on VTA before Spring of 2011.

So in the meantime, everyone who is a monthly pass holder on Caltrain starting in October is going to get screwed out of their local fare credit on VTA.

Ausgezeichtnet!

Never mind that I have yet to ride on a VTA bus that doesn't have a clipper terminal at the front covered in a garbage bag.

Really now. How much training does it really take for the driver to recognize the correct form of "beep" noise when a card gets tagged? Yes, I understand that for VTA to actually switch over in a big way to Clipper is going to be a much bigger deal than that. But how about a fucking baby step? How about turning on the terminals that are already installed?

Damnit, why must it always be that government employees forget who they really work for?

9 comments:

Brandi with VTA said...

Nick, although Clipper will not be implemented on VTA's system until the end of this year, VTA will still honor the transfer credit. Please continue to carry your paper pass until we work through a few implementation issues with MTC to make sure there is a seamless transition for all VTA customers.

Nick said...

Brandi, WHAT paper pass? Do you not comprehend that CalTrain is closing their ticket-by-mail office as of October? There WON'T BE ANY PAPER MONTHLY TICKETS AFTER THEN! And thus, those of us that get them will be forced to use Clipper and will be screwed out of our transfer credit.

And "by the end of the year" is not what was in the voicemail I got. What the fellow said was "not before Spring 2011."

Brandi with VTA said...

Yes, I realize the transition. the ticket-by-mail office will close as of October. However, recognizing that Clipper is not yet available on VTA (or SamTrans for that matter), and some Monthly pass customers obtain local fare credits on the bus or light rail, these customers should continue to purchase paper Caltrain Monthly passes for the time being, which according to Caltrain, will be available for purchase through early next year.

Nick said...

Buying monthly tickets from the vending machines is not an option for the thousands of us that participate in employee sponsored commuter pass purchasing plans. We have no choice but to buy our tickets, starting October, via Clipper.

Mike said...

I have been using BART Plus tickets for my local fares, and I can't switch fully to Clipper until VTA is on board.

I don't ride any one system enough to get a monthly pass, but the BART Plus works out pretty well. I look forward to using Clipper everywhere because then I will pay for what I actually use.

essi said...

Just got cited on the VTA.I switched my Clatrain monthly pass to clipper on October to participate in my employer's commuter benefit plan...

It's so frustrating that we work our buts off and pay taxes to these stupid government agency's who can't even figure out how to implement a simple payment procedure

Bryce said...

Did VTA ever give a resolution to this? I'm getting ready to make the switch to Clipper and haven't be able to find anything about a solution.

Nick said...

Nope. It's impossible currently for those of us with employer sponsored tax-free ticket purchasing to buy non-Clipper monthly passes, so we're being screwed out of our VTA and SamTrans transfer credits.

Bryce said...

I just called. They said Clipper would be supported in February (but I'll believe it when I see it), and didn't seem happy to be discussing it with me.