New Clipper card customers can have a $3 fee waived if they go with the mobile card option on their phones rather than receiving a plastic card, which are becoming depleted due to global supply chain issues, the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission announced.

Clipper cards, which are used across all Bay Area transit agencies like BART, Muni, Caltrain and ferries across the Bay, usually cost $3, but the mobile option via Apple Pay or Google Pay is free due to current delivery delays and supply chain issues with the physical cards, according to the MTC.

The MTC is the transportation planning agency for the nine-county Bay Area and operator of the Clipper system.

Apple customers can add the Clipper card directly through Apple Wallet and load cash value with Apple Pay as long as they are using an iPhone 8 or Apple Watch Series 3 or later, while users of Android 5 or later phones can add the card through Google Pay.

More details about the cards are available online.

Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.