Editing Bay Area Rapid Transit (section)

=== Fare media ===
The primary fare media for BART is the [[Clipper card]], which is used by most Bay Area transit agencies. Clipper is a [[contactless smart card]]; passengers tap in and out at card readers on fare gates. Clipper cards in [[Apple Pay]] and [[Google Wallet]] [[electronic wallet]]s can also be used.

[[File:BART ticket.png|thumb|150px|A legacy BART ticket. The initial purchased fare is printed parallel to the magnetic strip, and the card's balance is printed on the left, updated at each exit.]]
BART's original fare system used tickets made of a paper-plastic composite with a [[Magnetic stripe card|magnetic stripe]].<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trcircular/421/421-004.pdf |page=38 |title=Evolving Fare Technologies |first=R. Scott |last=Rodda |conference-url=https://trid.trb.org/view/390329 |conference=Workshop on Transit Fare Policy and Management: Research Needs and Priorities |date=July 1993 |publisher=Transportation Research Board |location=Woods Hole, Massachusetts}}</ref> The tickets were sold by fare vending machines. When exiting, fare gates read the magnetically stored value on the card, encoded the new value with the fare subtracted, and printed the new value on the card. Tickets with no remaining value were retained by the machine rather than being returned.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107363165/oakland-tribune/ |title=Ticket Machines Treat You Farely |date=September 10, 1972 |page=26 |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The entire fare system was designed and built by [[IBM]] under a $7 million contract (equivalent to ${{inflation|US-GDP|7|1972}} million in {{inflation/year|US-GDP}}).<ref name=healy>{{cite book |title=BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System |first=Michael C. |last=Healy |year=2016 |publisher=Heyday |isbn=978-1-59714-370-7 |pages=222–225}}</ref> It was the third system in the US to use encoded-value magnetic stripe tickets, following the [[Metra Electric District|Illinois Central Gulf commuter line]] (now the Metra Electric District) in 1964 and the [[PATCO Speedline]] in 1968.<ref name=fareoptions>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rpt_10-c.pdf |chapter=Chapter 6: Electronic Fare Payment Options |page=93 |title=TCRP Report 10: Fare Policies, Structures, and Technologies |year=1996 |publisher=Transportation Research Board |first1=Daniel |last1=Fleishman |first2=Nicola |last2=Shaw |first3=Ashok |last3=Joshi |first4=Richard |last4=Freeze |first5=Richard |last5=Oram}}</ref>

Although tickets could be refilled at fare machines, riders often discarded tickets with small values remaining. BART formerly relied on unused ticket values on such discarded cards for additional revenue – as much as $9.9&nbsp;million annually in 1999 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US-GDP|9.9|1999}} million in {{inflation/year|US-GDP}}).<ref>{{Cite news |first=Jon |last=Carroll |date=December 6, 2000 |title=Tiny Tickets Ha Ha Ha Ha |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/Tiny-Tickets-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-3315661.php |access-date=August 10, 2022}}</ref> Tickets stopped being sold in December 2020 in favor of Clipper cards, and can no longer be used.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=BART will no longer accept paper/magstripe tickets beginning Nov 30 {{!}} Bay Area Rapid Transit |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230911 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=www.bart.gov}}</ref> A 50-cent surcharge per trip (25 cents for discounted fares) is applied to all journeys made on paper tickets.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baldassari |first=Erin |date=June 22, 2017 |title=BART: 50-cent surcharge for paper tickets, expanded discount for youth |publisher=The Mercury News |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/22/bart-board-approves-50-cent-surcharge-for-paper-tickets-expanded-discount-for-youth/ |access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref> However, due to supply chain shortages resulting in a lack of plastic Clipper cards, BART started issuing tickets again at the SFO station in October 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 19, 2022 |title=Supply chain woes: MTC, BART encourage adding Clipper card on mobile phones |url=https://www.masstransitmag.com/technology/fare-collection/mobile-applications/article/21284298/supply-chain-woes-mtc-bart-encourage-adding-clipper-card-on-mobile-phones |access-date=November 23, 2022 |website=Mass Transit Magazine}}</ref> Sales of paper tickets again ended on September 30, 2023, and they were no longer usable after November 30.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230911 |title=BART to end sale of paper tickets, including at SFO, beginning September 30, 2023 |date=September 11, 2023 |publisher=San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District}}</ref>

BART first piloted a [[smart card]] for fare payment called EZ Rider in 2006; this program was abandoned in 2010 in favor of a regional farecard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BART enhances "EZ Rider" card with parking payment option {{!}} bart.gov |url=https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2008/news20081020 |access-date=May 9, 2021 |website=www.bart.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 10, 2010 |title=BART Phasing Out EZ Rider Passes in Switch to Clipper |url=https://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/11/10/bart-phasing-out-ez-rider-passes-in-switch-to-clipper/ |access-date=May 9, 2021 |website=Streetsblog San Francisco |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2009, BART became one of the first five transit agencies to accept TransLink (later renamed Clipper) cards for fare payment<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=Rachel |date=August 4, 2009 |title=BART starts accepting TransLink fare cards |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-starts-accepting-TransLink-fare-cards-3223398.php |access-date=May 9, 2021 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US}}</ref> and began phasing out tickets. By December 2020, all BART ticket machines, except for add-fare machines inside of paid areas, were converted to Clipper use only. Tickets were no longer accepted starting in December 2023.