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Program to offer 50% discounted fares to lower-income Bay Area residents

North and Southbound Caltrain trains arrive at the downtown Palo Alto train station on July 24, 2019. Photo by Veronica Weber.

Lower-income Bay Area residents are invited to apply for a pilot program aiming to offer them 50% discounted fares, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said Tuesday.

The Clipper START initiative, administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will give eligible participants a 50 percent discount on single adult fares for the VTA, AC Transit, Marin Transit, SolTrans, BART, Muni, Sonoma County Transit, Caltrain, and Napa VINE, among others.

According to the VTA, individuals must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the program:

-Be a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area.

-Be aged 19-64 years.

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-Not possess an RTC Clipper Card for people with disabilities.

-Have a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

The VTA said applying residents must also provide proof of identity and income​ to receive a personalized Clipper card in the mail to get their discounts.

Those who are interested and wish to apply can visit clipperstartcard.com.

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Program to offer 50% discounted fares to lower-income Bay Area residents

Lower-income Bay Area residents are invited to apply for a pilot program aiming to offer them 50% discounted fares, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said Tuesday.

The Clipper START initiative, administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will give eligible participants a 50 percent discount on single adult fares for the VTA, AC Transit, Marin Transit, SolTrans, BART, Muni, Sonoma County Transit, Caltrain, and Napa VINE, among others.

According to the VTA, individuals must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the program:

-Be a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area.

-Be aged 19-64 years.

-Not possess an RTC Clipper Card for people with disabilities.

-Have a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

The VTA said applying residents must also provide proof of identity and income​ to receive a personalized Clipper card in the mail to get their discounts.

Those who are interested and wish to apply can visit clipperstartcard.com.

Comments

Steven Nelson
Registered user
Cuesta Park
on Jan 8, 2024 at 1:50 pm
Steven Nelson, Cuesta Park
Registered user
on Jan 8, 2024 at 1:50 pm

I hope the MVWSD school district has some form of 'explicit help' for reaching all the poor family parents who try their best to support their students in our public schools. I think all the (4?) higher poverty elementary schools have some sort of community engagement coordinators who might 'facilitate' this type of project.

PS Recently the Board of the MVWSD, under recommendation of the Administration, chose to OFFICIALLY adopt a Policy of Not covering the transportation costs of poor students legally asking to transfer into wealthier and better academic performing schools like STEVENSON (PACT). * Therefore the district is not eligible for the new 60% state student transportation subsidy **, that would have covered more-than-half of the costs for poor students!

*11/16/'23 new restriction adoption BP 5116.1, 11/2/'23 transportation discussion VII.C.

** CDE Web Link
** The mini-van/ minimal-retrained driver-employee option was released late-in-the-process
"Small Vehicle Purchase" / not requiring "Big Yellow School Bus" special commercial license

Web Link


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