Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card

Thursday April 15, 2021 10:09 am PDT by Juli Clover

The Clipper card, used for most transit options in the San Francisco Bay Area, now supports Apple Pay with Express Transit Mode. Starting today, Clipper cards can be added to the Wallet app on an iPhone and Apple Watch and used wherever Clipper cards are accepted.

clipper card express transit apple pay
Clipper cards can be reloaded directly in the Wallet app, making it more convenient to travel throughout the Bay Area. Apple has a dedicated Clipper card website with details on how to transfer a Clipper card to the iPhone.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Clipper cards are used for BART, Caltrain, Muni, VTA and more. With Express Transit Mode, transit can be authenticated with a tap and no need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or touch a transit machine.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

Banks and Credit Unions to Team Up Against Apple Pay Fees

Friday September 25, 2026 12:22 pm PDT by Juli Clover

An antitrust lawsuit accusing Apple of blocking tap-to-pay competition is moving forward and will see banks and credit unions able to band together to sue Apple. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White this week certified a class in the lawsuit. It will include any U.S. entities that issued any payment card enabled for Apple Pay and paid Apple a fee for Apple Pay transactions on that payment card. ...

• 186 comments

Apple Pay Now Available in India With Axis Bank Cards

Tuesday September 29, 2026 5:01 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple Pay is now available in India, which means customers with an eligible card can add it to the Wallet app on iPhone and Apple Watch for contactless and online payments. To use Apple Pay in India, users will need an Axis Bank credit card on the Visa or Mastercard network. Earlier today, TechCrunch reported that merchants and payment terminals will need to add Apple Pay support, so the...

• 21 comments

Apple Pay Reportedly Launching in India Today

Tuesday September 29, 2026 12:52 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple Pay is set to launch in India later today (Wednesday local time), starting with Axis Bank credit cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks, according to TechCrunch. India already has a popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system for digital payments, so the initial rollout of Apple Pay in the country is expected to be limited. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Bank/SBI Card are not...

• 14 comments

Top Rated Comments

alexandr

72 months ago

yea, america — joining the rest of the world :)

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

ceriess

72 months ago

Add it manually.

But this also means that the physical card can no longer be used after the transfer? How is that for a good customer experience if you can’t get home when your phone’s battery is gone.

The Clipper card, used for most transit options in the San Francisco Bay Area, now supports ('https://transit.applepay.apple/san-francisco') Apple Pay with Express Transit Mode. Starting today, Clipper cards can be added to the Wallet app on an iPhone and Apple Watch and used wherever Clipper cards are accepted.

Clipper cards can be reloaded directly in the Wallet app, making it more convenient to travel throughout the Bay Area. Apple has a dedicated Clipper card website ('https://transit.applepay.apple/san-francisco') with details on how to transfer a Clipper card to the iPhone.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Clipper cards are used for BART, Caltrain, Muni, VTA and more. With Express Transit Mode, transit can be authenticated with a tap and no need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or touch a transit machine.

Article Link: Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card ('https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/15/clipper-card-apple-pay-express-transit/')

Unfortunately it errors out when I try to add my card and hold my phone over it

You don't hold your phone over it. You put your phone directly on it.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

podycust

72 months ago

Add it manually.

But this also means that the physical card can no longer be used after the transfer? How is that for a good customer experience if you can’t get home when your phone’s battery is gone.

If you got an XR or newer that’s not a problem as it has power reserve of about 5 hours where you can still use your express travel card method - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/sec90cd29d1f/web

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

darkslide29

72 months ago

This was a long time coming, finally, in Apple’s own backyard.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dontwalkhand

72 months ago

Does this work with Tap on/Tap off services like Caltrain? There website doesn't seem to say anything about this. I don't live in the Bay Area but visit sometimes. Would someone mind testing it for me.

I'm seriously considering a trip out once my 2 weeks after vaccine is up just to test this out.

It works exactly the same as a physical card.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

squirrelist

72 months ago

Will the card still work? If I want to add value to the "card," should I do it via the wallet and it flows to the card as well? or is the card now worthless and the phone is my only option?

Clipper only allows you to have one card per account. So if you enable this your plastic card is deactivated. If they allowed the other card to continue that would be a huge loophole. You could give the card to someone else and if you are both riding transit at the same time it would only charge you once in many cases.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Read All Comments

Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card

Popular Stories

Banks and Credit Unions to Team Up Against Apple Pay Fees

Apple Pay Now Available in India With Axis Bank Cards

Apple Pay Reportedly Launching in India Today

Top Rated Comments

Next Article

Videos

Guides

Upcoming

Other Stories