UC Berkeley senior Shashank Dholakia was ready to start using public transit again after finally getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Dholakia, a frequent user of his campus-issued “EZ Pass,” had been using AC Transit normally prior to the pandemic until a few days ago, when his card was suddenly declined.
Dholakia was caught off guard; he had placed a significant amount of money in his account, as before the pandemic hit, he used BART and AC Transit on a regular basis. After contacting UC Berkeley’s Parking and Transportation office, he was told that if his card was left unused for six months, it would have expired.