Reload Your SmarTrip Card at CVS or Giant

Photo courtesy of
‘First subway ride’
courtesy of ‘ktylerconk (Tennessee)’

Great news from Metro today: you can now load value onto your SmarTrip card at over 100  CVS and Giant Food stores.  This is the latest step in making it easier to use and reload SmarTrip cards since Metro eliminated paper transfers back in January.  You can load value using cash or credit cards on portable SmarTrip devices at these stores, a welcome improvement over the cash-only reloading capabilities of Metrobuses.

The list of stores with SmarTrip reloading machines can be found here; the list includes 106 CVS locations and eight Giant Food locations.  Participating retailers will have a decal or sign on the door announcing the SmarTrip capability.

Thanks Metro, for making it a bit easier to avoid the swarms of tourists at the farecard machines in Metro stations this summer.

And oddly enough, here’s another way that CVS is making it a little bit easier to get around: apparently the CVS Samaritan Van has been rescuing stranded motorists for thirty years!  Who knew CVS cared so much about transportation?  Thanks David for the link.

Shannon grew up in the greater DC area/Maryland suburbs, went to Virginia for college and grad school (go Hoos!), and settled in DC in 2006. She’s an urban planner who loves transit (why yes, that is her dressed as a Metro pylon for Halloween), cities, and all things DC. Email her at Shannon (at) WeLoveDC.com!

2 thoughts on “Reload Your SmarTrip Card at CVS or Giant

  1. WOO HOO! now not only can i bank at CVS (that’s right, cash-back feature, you’re my ATM) i can also pay for my metro fare. amazing.

  2. Hmm, the CVS in Woodbridge near the VRE station isn’t the list, even though they sell SmartTrip card. The only Woodbridge store is the Todos Spanish Market.