What’s the most inconvenient thing about public transportation? If you’re a resident of Washington, D.C. or a student at Georgetown, one thing comes to mind. There’s nothing like that blissful feeling of rushing to the metro only to find a negative balance on your SmarTrip card after swiping it a thousand times. Wonderful.
But there’s some good news! Since a test run with over 1,300 riders, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) has released a new plan where riders can now connect their credit or debit card information to SmarTrip cards with the option to refill the balance automatically! One less thing I have to worry about! The goal behind the plan is to encourage the use of the plastic, reusable cards rather than the paper fare tickets.
Even better, the original plan arranged for having a minimum of twenty dollars on the card, but now riders can set their own minimum balance. If that’s not making you jump with joy, then you should know that the original plan would originally take a couple of business days to transfer the money, but now it’s up and ready from the moment you sign up. All in all, it’s safe to say that your metro experience might be slightly less painful because of the newly implemented policies. Happy riding!
Now if they could just get automatic toilet paper replacement in bathrooms…