An extended outage on the Clipper card system that became a major point of frustration for BART riders last month appears to have been caused by an account being shut off due to an unpaid bill.

The rollout of the so-called "Clipper 2.0" system, which was meant to streamline fare-paying and allow transit riders to use their own credit cards to tap-to-pay, was called "a hot mess" by an executive board member of Clipper four months ago. And much of the blame for that may belong to the contractor, Cubic Corp., that has been managing the fare-paying platform under contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission since 2018.

The most recent of multiple major glitches was a 27-hour outage across the Clipper system on May 18. As the Chronicle reports, that outage was apparently caused by an unpaid AT&T bill — with Cubic relying on AT&T's wireless network for communications between fare gates, ticket machines, and the payment system.

Cubic Chief Operating Officer Lalit Singh explained the situation to the Clipper executive board at a Monday meeting, per the Chronicle, saying that the company had multiple accounts with AT&T, and the account associated with the fare gates was a secondary account that had apparently slipped through the cracks and its bills hadn't been paid.

It sounds like heads may roll over this gaffe, though this is hardly the first problem with the Clipper system in recent months. The rollout of "Clipper 2.0" has been rocky, with some 51 Muni fare-adding machines out of order due to their lack of updates to the new system — and in some Muni stations it's impossible to add fare to a Clipper card.

There have also reportedly been ongoing problems with reloading student passes.

Regarding the unpaid bill story, BART General Manager Robert Powers tells the Chronicle, "Cubic not paying their bill? Are you kidding me? That’s ridiculous. BART is so done with Cubic right now. You have zero credibility."

There are another two years on Cubic's 10-year, $461 million contract to update the Clipper system, and transit officials like Powers and Mulligan are decrying how the recent glitches are hurting reputation and credibility of transit writ large across the Bay Area.

Per the Chronicle piece, Cubic has also missed a May 30 deadline to address issues with the bulk migration of existing Clipper accounts to the new system — only 45% have been migrated despite the new system having rolled out six months ago.

BART and Muni would just like everyone to know, if they've had trouble with these systems, it's not their fault. And on the plus side, the tap-to-pay system with regular credit cards appears to be functioning.

Unfortunately, these glitches have also come at a time when both agencies are making efforts to decrease fare evasion and bolster fare revenue, but Clipper isn't doing them any favors there either.

Previously: Clipper Developer Says It Will Resolve Chaos From Disastrous 2.0 Rollout By May 30