The Clipper Card thread - experience & knowledge welcome (Sausalito: transfer, living in)

[StrangeAsAngels]

Looks like I will be working in the city which means I will have to commute. The GG ferry is crazy expensive ($19/round trip) and I read somewhere that by using a clipper card, I can get a discount. It's kind of a no brainer to me if that's true.

Are there any drawbacks to using the Clipper Card?

Also, does it work on tolls as well as all the means of transit?

What kind of discount do you get on bus fairs (from Marin via GGT)?

[ccm123]

No drawbacks to using it. It does not work on tolls, for bridge tolls, you will need a Fastrak Card mounted on your car windshield.

I don't know of any discounts given with Clipper, but I may be incorrect on this point.

[alliance]

I don't get discounts on muni. Still $2/ride, same as cash. Convenience is really the only signifcant part since I rarely have $2 cash in wallet, and definitely not 4 ones for round trip.

[StrangeAsAngels]

According to The Golden Gate Ferry site, it's $6.75 each way with the Clipper Card instead of $.9.50 which is quite a difference.

[ccm123]

I'll correct my previous statement about discounts. There is a discount on the SF to Sausalito Ferry using Clipper, but that's about all I've seen.

[StrangeAsAngels]

According to the Clipper site there are discounts for Golden Gate Transit (busses) as well as the GG Ferry (which includes Larkpsur as well as Sausalito). This is great for me given that I will be living in Marin and working the city.

[felinius]

No drawbacks at all, unless you lose the card. I believe you pay $5 for them to send a new one to you ... so don't lose it.

[dlyoung123]

I have used clipper since I moved here in 2011. And have had zero problems with it. I esp like the ability to reload the card on line. Also when riding AC transit. I have noticed I get a round trip ride for the cost of a one way trip. (Not sure why. Seems when I take a bus to the drug store every two months to refill prescriptions. It gets logged as being one trip. And I am only charged like 25 cents or so transfer charge for the ride back home.)

[California Vagabond]

I can share one, small tip: I believe you have to tap the clipper card on the way onto a GG Transit bus, and again on the way out as well. One ride, two taps. (Perhaps only on the buses, and not on the ferry; I'm not sure.)

That's also the case when riding BART with my Muni / BART monthly pass -- of necessity, as BART won't let me in or out without tapping -- but not when riding Muni. If I board a Muni bus, I tap once on the way in, and that's all. I've forgotten what I did the last time I rode AC Transit.

[ilkhd2]

Also, you do not have to recharge it online: you can do it for cash in closest Walgreens.