Clipper has a faster transaction time than a credit card, and the system also needs to support offline transactions. The fee on Clipper is lower too, .03 per tap to Cubic.

I have had the same issue in the past in the Bay area. I finally got a clipper card a few weeks ago (I live in MV typically walk to work). Yesterday, I was in front of a VTA in San Jose trying to get back to MV. The people around were a bit shady, and there was a pretty long wait for the train - of course .. I called an Uber, which cost a few bucks more. Still waiting to use that clipper card.

Yes, clipper card can fix the problem for locals. But, temporary visitors/tourists to the area may not want to get such a card.

If you make it easy enough and obvious enough to figure out how to buy a card and don't impose a significant card purchase fee, I think a lot of temporary visitors are willing to do it. The problem is when transit agencies don't make the process of obtaining a card as straightforward as buying a single-trip ticket.

Personally, I've got around a dozen transit cards spanning at least six countries...

The Oyster card in London is the only way to pay. Pay stations can vend cards, but they need to be distributed more for this to work with Clipper.

This would be incorrect as contactless payment cards (e.g. via Apple Pay) are widely supported in London. [1]

[1] https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/ways-to-pay/whats-the-...

Drivers not giving change sounds ridiculous. What's the reasoning behind that? In Europe it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Most likely reason is to avoid drivers being robbed - if there's no (easy and accessible for the driver) way to take money out of the thing, local addicts won't get an idea "let's jump on a bus and take money from the driver" because driver can't really give the money.

Also a bit of avoiding fraud from driver's side - if the driver is allowed to take money out, it's impossible to control whether all the payments actually got to the end point.

That said, I've seen systems where the drivers give change - e.g. in Israel - and that's wasn't a big deal. So I guess it also depends on the locality.

It's also to speed things up. Many drivers want to hit their timetable; having to give change to 3 or 4 different people per stop is going to kill that.

The European busses solved that ages ago.

Driver presses the button for a special ticket, customer inserts coins or bills, the machine automatically gives exact change. Alternatively, pay with NFC, card, etc.

Or they have a small cash register and just give change back to dozens of people in the line, I've never seen a bus being noticably late because of it.

Honestly some of the things mentioned in here are mind bending. I have public transport experience from both London and a small country on the eastern side of Europe, and both were efficient, fast and safe. What the fuck is wrong with the US when people are scared to take public transport because they can get robbed?

Well, in some European countries the drivers do not handle any cash or tickets. Both for safety reasons and for the fact that having a queue of people waiting to buy tickets from a single driver introduces latency. Instead, there's a ticket machine on the bus stop, or sometimes inside the bus. Alternatively you can buy a ticket using a mobile app. This means you can board without a ticket. Then ticket inspectors randomly board vehicles to check peoples tickets.

There are vending machines that can give you change back. They should just pop some of those machines into the bus entrance.

Most public buses have a vending machine type payment system. You can insert bills & coins, but there is no outlet for returning change. So, there is no way drivers can return change.

Which is still stupid, because vending machines have had ways to return change for decades. It's just bad design.

Fare boxes don’t vend change because it is another moving part that can break. Waiting for change creates dwell time multiplied by cash boarding. Agencies can buy fare boxes that give change but this only makes sense on lower ridership systems.

All trams in Berlin have ticket vending machines that give change. And Berlin definitely doesn't fit the "lower ridership" category.

Here in Austin, Texas Capital Metro does at least have an app that you can pay through.

But I do agree that small transactions like that should be easier. Especially when a ride is $1.25. It's plausible that I might have a dollar on hand, but who carries around quarters these days?

You're probably supposed to use the contactless "smart" card to board. In many systems this card is linked to your bank account and tops you off at a certain amount each time your balance reaches a certain minimum threshold (e.g. once your balance is $10, it takes out $40 from your bank account).

Huh, what's wrong with it taking exactly as much off as you're spending? Here contactless cards take it off exactly and immediately.

There are at least two problems. The first is that the banks are going to charge the agency a transaction fee. The second is that you start having to put in all kinds of anti-fraud mechanisms (think about someone riding around on buses with a negative account balance that never gets checked because the card scanner is only synced when the bus comes in to the depot). Not saying more user-friendly systems can't be rolled out, but this works good enough for most systems.

> think about someone riding around on buses with a negative account balance that never gets checked because the card scanner is only synced when the bus comes in to the depot

The system here checks directly.

But yeah I guess transaction fees, we typically don't see them but the merchants do. I know of only two places where it's visible: a mobile kebab store charges 10ct and a local ice cream parlor just doesn't have it because of costs. Other than that every place I know offers it without (mention of) fees.

CTA accepts NFC / contactless credit cards as payment for buses