Clipper Payment Problems

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New Muni Faregates
Photo by Jamison Wieser

Muni rider Scott ran into a rather complicated bit of trouble with his Clipper card recently. His account was set to auto load $20 ecash for when he uses the card on transit systems other than Muni. But then he got a new debit card and forgot to notify Clipper. Then, on Aug. 4 …

Clipper attempted to charge $72 for my August Fast Pass against the card that was closed. Because Clipper credits your card before the transaction is actually processed, I did not realize my mistake until Aug. 12, when I received an email to tell my that my charge was declined. I immediately signed on to my account on the Clipper website and updated my credit card info.

But because the charges for his Fast Pass were declined, Clipper blocked that part of Scott’s card until they processed the transaction on his new card. Because the ecash part of his card was not blocked, every time he used Muni between until Clipper cleared his new card, he was deducting $2 per ride.

It seems there is a problem with the Clipper website, where updated billing information is not saved correctly, so when the cash balance on my Clipper card was depleted and when they attempted a new charge, they used my old debit card number and the charge was declined. But, Clipper credited my card. And because there is so much lag time between when the transactions are declined to when they notify the customer, I continued to deplete the Clipper card balance and they initiated more transactions against the closed debit card.

Finally, he tried using the card and found that it was completely blocked. He called Clipper and they informed him of the error with their website. Scott was assured that his account was not corrected and Clipper would expedite having his card unblocked.

Since this was 4:40 p.m. on a Friday, I didn’t have much hope. Sure enough, the card was not cleared until the morning of Aug. 30, when I used my card on the 24, I saw on the display that my monthly pass was used. Then at 1:07 p.m., on the same day, I received an email that charges to my debit card were declined. I called Clipper and sure enough my card is blocked again. Once again, I was told that it was fixed and that it should be available to use in 24 hours.

Scott adds: “I’m not holding my breath.” My god.

We contacted Scott to hear about any possible resolution to his story. We at Muni Diaries are no strangers to Clipper fuckery ourselves. How about you? Has something similar to Scott’s ordeal happened to you? It appears that the website at least sometimes fails to process user updates.

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Violated on Muni

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Smelly Feet
Photo by julesreyes

Have you ever been harassed on the bus? You’d think that after the Muni Humper, people would learn. Not so much. Recently we received a report from Stella, who found some really suspicious bad behavior on the 8X-Bayshore Express.

“I was sitting on the single seats on the 8X and a man got on the bus and held the pole next to my seat…the bus makes a small turn and the man leans toward me and brushes my arm with his hand. I mean this might be understandable if it was a wide turn and if we were going pretty fast, but the bus was not. The 8X is typically a crowded bus and as a non-confrontational person, I didn’t accuse him of anything just yet. So after that I turned my head in his direction and he was staring down at me.

He was a middle age bald man with a big gut wearing a blue polo shirt. He didn’t touch me again till the next small turn. He was clearly exaggerating the impact of the turn. I was fed up with this pervert. You may think I am over-reacting to this someone touching my arm on the bus, well this is not the worst I’ve experience or seen.

I’ve talked to people about this happening and they tell me not to start anything with the guy for my own safety in case he has a weapon or might follow me home. This infuriates me that I can’t do anything about it.”

Personal spaces might be tighter on the bus but that’s no excuse if this man is brushing against Stella on purpose.

Over the weekend I was on a fairly empty 49-Van Ness and a guy decided to sit next to me and promptly “fall asleep,” resting his arm on my hips several times. At first I wasn’t completely sure that he was doing this on purpose, but after the fourth time I had enough and got up to get to the next seat. Like Stella, I found it infuriating and frustrating.

I’ve read that in other countries there are women-only passenger cars just to prevent groping. Not that groping is limited to female victims alone.

Ladies (and gents), weigh in: Has this happened to you? If so, how do you deal with it?

Category: diaries, WTF: Weirdness on Muni Tags: , ,

Muni News: Dog-shooting artist, transit funding cuts, Muni repairs

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Photo by Kyle Sullivan

  • Second art project by sculptor who shot dog on hold (City Insider)
  • BART Protests: When Will They Stop? (SF Weekly)
  • Bill would allow BART to keep out those who repeatedly break law (Contra Costa Times)
  • Should Public Transit Agencies Strive for Profitability? (Streetsblog)
  • BART Protesters Calm Down, Hand Out Fliers (SFist)
  • BART And Caltrain Officials Decry Proposed Cuts To Federal Transportation Funding (SF Appeal)
  • Central Subway Supporters Meet To Talk About Just How Much They Support It (BCN via SF Appeal)
  • SFMTA Begins Repairs On Cables Responsible For Many A Muni Delay (SF Appeal)
Category: News

Your Thoughts: Free Muni for Schoolkids?

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Kids loving Muni
Photo by velobry

Mayoral candidate Leland Yee made a splash last week by calling for Muni to issue passes to San Francisco public school students. According to SF Appeal, Supervisor David Campos joined school and transit advocates at today’s SFMTA Board meeting to demand the same. SF Public Press’ Jerold Chin tweets that the item made it to next week’s official SFMTA agenda.

As SF Weekly notes, fares account for around 25 percent of Muni’s annual revenue. But the idea is plausible; for example, offering the passes only certain times of year, and only for low-income students.

We’re curious what you think. We already know how many of you feel about Muni buses and streetcars filled with children. But what about public school students? Should they get a free ride?

Category: News

Historic 7-Haight — What Could Be

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Photo by skew-t

Last week, we posted about a circa-1960s Muni bus up for auction, yours for the bargain-basement price of $12,000. You have a little less than a day to bid on that one. But, you ask, what will I do with my vintage Muni bus, other than have fabulous parties in it?

Tofu St. John on our Facebook Page had a popular suggestion:

I think a few should be restored and put into regular service for the retro appeal. Bring back the 7-Haight and only use old, restored buses.

Now there’s an idea.

We had some sad-face after our favorite elusive (read: not ridden that often, but nice when we did) lines got the axe in 2009. After soliciting Muni obituaries for them, we found a number of you felt the same way. A historic version of the 26-Valencia or the 4-Sutter at least makes for some fun afternoon daydreaming, however unlikely it seems in real life.

Category: diaries Tags: ,

Unraveling ‘Trip Down Market Street’

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For the transit geek/history buff in you: tomorrow night you can hear all about the story behind the popular footage of “Trip Down Market Street” that was filmed over 100 years ago by the Miles Brothers. I first saw this footage at Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscapes show a few years ago (if you don’t know about the Prelinger Archives or his amazing library, you’re missing out on some really cool San Francisco history.)

David Kiehn, historian for the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, will be talking about the Miles Brothers and their many files. For a preview, check out the Market Street Railway‘s narrated version of the footage. It turns out that the film was made just days before the 1906 earthquake. Amazing stuff.

“Unraveling the story behind ‘A Trip Down Market Street'” is at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening at the Jewish Community Center. See details from Squidlist.

Category: News
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