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One-day “Clipper” card usage on Bay Area public transit systems recently surpassed the half-million mark for the first time, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

During the week ending Aug. 26, there were 505,000 average daily boardings using the Clipper card on the region’s seven participating transit systems, an eight-fold increase from the 63,000 daily boardings logged by an electronic fare collection system used before the introduction of Clipper just over a year ago, MTC officials said in a prepared statement.

“Transaction volume has been exploding over the last 12 months,” said Jake Avidon, MTC’s senior program coordinator for Clipper.

Officials attributed the increase to spikes in young riders using public transit as they return to school. Among the seven Bay Area transit operators participating in the Clipper program, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency led with 304,000 average daily boardings using Clipper during September’s first week.

Meanwhile, more than one-third of Bay Area Rapid Transit riders now are using Clipper, MTC officials said.