BART plans to phase out the sale of paper tickets.
The agency will roll out a pilot program at four stations this summer that would only allow Clipper card sales.
The first station to go paperless will be Downtown Berkeley on July 8, followed by 19th Street Station in Oakland on July 22. The Embarcadero station makes the switch on Aug. 19 and Powell Street station on Sept. 3.
Existing paper tickets will be accepted, but riders may not purchase new ones at these stations, BART spokeswoman Anna Duckworth said.
“They can use them at the gate gates. They can add value to their tickets, they’re just not going to be able to buy them at those stations,” Duckworth said.
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BART officials argue paper tickets are wasteful, as they wear out or get lost more easily than Clipper cards. Duckworth said the card option is also more affordable.
“There are a lot of advantages to using Clipper,” she said. “Our riders know there’s a 50-cent per trip surcharge on a paper ticket. If you take BART round trip, that’s $1 extra that you’re paying that you won’t have to pay with the Clipper card.”
BART hopes to use only Clipper cards across the entire system in 2020.