Paper tickets phased out at Oakland's 19th St. BART station

Rider purchase tickets at the 19th Street Mission BART Station in San Francisco, Calif. Wednesday, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Paper tickets will no longer be sold at the station going forward. Rider purchase tickets at the 19th Street Mission BART Station in San Francisco, Calif. Wednesday, Thursday, May 23, 2019. Paper tickets will no longer be sold at the station going forward. Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Paper tickets phased out at Oakland's 19th St. BART station 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

If you've been putting off adding a Clipper Card to your wallet, you may want to rethink the decision. Starting Monday, paper tickets will no longer be sold at the 19th St. Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland. Three other BART stations are scheduled to follow by the end of September.

Extra BART agents were dispatched to answer questions and hand out free Clipper cards at the 19th St. location Monday. BART is planning to phase out old paper tickets with magnetic strips. Existing paper tickets will still work at BART turnstiles, and add fare machines will still allow riders to reload paper tickets.

The Embarcadero Station in San Francisco is scheduled to go paperless on August 19th. The phase-out will hit Powell St. on September 3rd and Downtown Berkeley on September 24th.

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BART officials say Clipper cards can be purchased at all 48 stations as well as transit agency offices and many Walgreens and Whole Foods locations. The card itself costs $3, which does not count toward your fare.