Apple Pay Now Accepted on BART & Muni

Apple Pay Arrives for Bay Area Transit

For those who have previously been unable to utilize Apple Pay while riding public transportation in San Francisco – a limitation not shared by cities like New York or Beijing – a positive update is available. Apple has officially declared that Clipper card support is being integrated.

This integration will allow seamless payment across multiple Bay Area transit systems. Users will soon be able to simply tap their iPhone or Apple Watch at the card reader to complete their fare.

Supported Transit Agencies

Apple Pay functionality, through Clipper, will be universally accepted across all 24 agencies currently utilizing the Clipper system. This includes compatibility with the following:

AC Transit
BART
Caltrain
City Coach
County Connection
Dumbarton Express
FAST
Golden Gate Ferry
Golden Gate Transit
Marin Transit
Muni
Petaluma Transit
SamTrans
San Francisco Bay Ferry
Santa Rosa CityBus
SMART
SolTrans
Sonoma County Transit
Tri Delta Transit
Union City Transit
Vine
VTA
WestCAT
Wheels

The system will leverage Apple Wallet’s “Express Transit” feature. This allows for quick transactions on transit without the need for Face ID or Touch ID authentication.

This feature is particularly beneficial during peak hours, streamlining the boarding process when numerous passengers are waiting.

Rollout Timeline

The precise launch date for this new functionality remains unspecified by Apple. An official announcement indicated a release timeframe of “Coming soon.”

However, the @BayAreaClipper Twitter account has provided a more defined window, stating that the update is expected “this spring.”

Furthermore, support for Google Pay is also planned for implementation in the near future.