It’s been a summer of discontent for commuters on D.C.’s Metrorail system. Massive fare hikes have taken their toll on daily subway riders, and more bad news has recently surfaced.

Last Wednesday, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced that riders would no longer be able to exit Metro stations with negative balances on SmarTrip cards. This system made travel easier for regular users.

Allowing customers to exit without full payment on SmarTrips has been a mark of WMATA’s focus on its customers and a wise, practical policy. The policy allowed passengers to replenish their accounts before their next trips by using any farecard machine rather than having to use the cash-only exit fare terminal before they leave. The latter is inconvenient for customers, especially in an increasingly digital society.

This recently announced change in SmarTrip policy will be a significant blow to consumers. It will create significant backlogs at exit gates during rush hour as commuters scramble to find spare change to cover their fares. WMATA should be taking steps to reduce congestion at entrance and exit gates, not enacting policies that will create more delays.

Although this change is part of a larger policy reducing the cost of new SmarTrip cards, requiring riders to have full fares on their SmarTrips upon exit is a misguided policy.

While WMATA is upgrading the exit fare machines to handle SmarTrips, the agency has decided not to add credit card service as well. WMATA would certainly prefer not to have to pay a fee to process a credit card transaction, but not giving SmarTrip users that option to pay their fares shows WMATA is shifting its focus away from customer service and focusing solely on its bottom line.

We recognize the tough economic situation for the city, but alienating passengers will lead to more losses in the long run than the small revenue gained by this recent change. Hopefully the agency will take more steps to help the public in the future, rather than spending its time thinking of extra surcharges and inconveniences with which to saddle consumers.