A change initiated earlier this month in the way Metro customers must manage their money on SmarTrip cards is causing confusion some riders.

According to The Washington Post, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority made changes to comply with the Internal Revenue Service’s 2006 decision to separate parking and public transit funds in SmarTripaccounts.

Before the system’s transformation, when users tapped their cards at Metro stations, the reader displayed the total dollar amount stored on the card. The figure included funds for paying parking fees at municipal parking facilities and fares on Metrorail and Metrobus.

Under the new system mandated by the IRS, users will store funds in separate “purses,” and card readers will only be able to display the contents of one purse at a time, creating the possibility that riders will be confused about the total value on their cards.

To find out how much remains on their cards, riders must tap them against a fare machine, fare box, fare gate or a parking garage exit.

These changes may make things more difficult for Metro patrons, like Leonor Dominguez (MSB ’15).

“People use the metro because they want to travel quickly, and this new system will just complicate things for riders,” she said.