Getting a BART clipper card

Question

I'll be visiting San Francisco for a week and want a Clipper card as a souvenir. It looks like I can order one online and have it shipped to me:

https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/getTranslinkOrderCard.do

My question is... is that the only way to get them? Can I just buy one there, in-person? In London you can get the Oyster cards at pretty much any tube station. The RFID transit card they use in LA can be gotten on buses and in the DC transit you can buy from kiosks at metro stations where cars can park.

The following URL talks about how to buy tickets:

http://www.bart.gov/tickets/sales/index.aspx

But I don't want a paper ticket lol - I want a clipper card!

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Greetings from San Francisco. You can't get Clipper at most BART stations, but you do have a couple of alternatives:

• Muni ticket vending machines, found at all Muni metro stations (which are all over the city center)
• All SF outlets of Walgreens, a ubiquitous pharmacy chain

Plus a bunch of random neighbourhood stores etc, there's a handy map/locator on the Clipper site. Just beware: red dots (add-value machines) do not sell new cards, they can only top up existing ones.