Clipper’s 2.0 upgrade in December went badly, and riders continue to face technical issues, with only 1.5 million users successfully transitioning to the new system so far out of 15 million.
It’s been four months since the rollout of Clipper’s upgraded 2.0 system in December, which touted the ability to use multiple forms of payment along with other rider benefits, as SFist reported at the time. Only 1.5 million users have reportedly managed to transition to the new system out of 15 million users with cards in circulation.
As KGO reports, the Bay Area Clipper system was down for several hours the day of the launch, and it's since been plagued with technical difficulties ever since. Riders reported new problems sprouting up once old ones were resolved, including riders payments not going through and money was disappearing.
Cubic, the company handling the rollout, gave a self-imposed deadline of May 30 to resolve the issues.
While riders reportedly can now pay at the gates using their electronic wallets and credit/debit cards, those who still depend on their Clipper cards, including seniors, youth, discount riders, and commuters, have been largely out of luck, as KQED reported in February.
Officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which oversees Clipper, say the technical problems stem from the challenge of incorporating a whole new framework while still using the legacy system, in addition to consolidating the numerous regional transit agencies that use Clipper — each with its own policies and procedures.
"All of these different ingredients need to be baked into the Clipper cake," said spokesman John Goodwin with the MTC, speaking to KGO. "It's a really, really complicated recipe."
As KQED reported in January, following the rollout in December, elected officials and members of the public began blasting the rollout’s failure, with one official calling it a “hot mess.” Calls to Clipper’s customer service quadrupled between December 10 and January 15, with agents receiving around 47,000 calls. The calls have only died down slightly since then, as KGO reports the agency received about 35,000 calls over the past month.
“The most charitable way I could describe the launch of Clipper 2.0 was, ‘It’s a hot mess,’ and that’s charitable,” Denis Mulligan, general manager of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District, told KQED.
KGO reports that the MTC signed a 10-year contract with Cubic, the company handling the rollout, in 2018 totaling about $500 million.
Software engineers criticized Cubic for neglecting to properly test the new system before its release, as well as the MTC for its lack of technical oversight, according to KQED.
“These were entirely preventable failures,” said Evan Tschuy, a founder of the site Hiking by Transit. “I’m a software engineer and computer infrastructure engineer with a decade of experience. This launch to me speaks to a lack of technical oversight from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.”
Previously: Huzzah! All Clipper Card Systems Will Take Credit and Debit Cards, Starting Next Wednesday
Image: Sharon Hahn Darlin/Wikimedia
