Metro Reconsiders Their SmarTrip Changes

Photo courtesy of
‘#WMATA Smartrip reader’s impression of the first Terminator:’
courtesy of ‘brownpau’

The Washington Examiner is reporting that Carol Dillon Kissal, Metro’s deputy general manager, told the Metro Riders’ Advisory Council that the previously approved SmarTrip card price drop from $5 to $2.50 has presented some “tricky issues,” prompting Kissal and her staff to come up with other options.

These options now include requiring riders to have a minimum value on their SmarTrip card before entering the system, rewarding cardholders with a $2.50 rebate after they have purchased a $5 card and used it for two one-way trips, or forgetting about the $2.50 price drop all together.

“The feedback I’ve received from people when they found out they would no longer be able to go negative [on their SmarTrip cards] was very negative,” Riders’ Advisory Council member Carl Seip told the Examiner.

He wasn’t kidding. Metro riders (and We Love DC authors) have expressed their frustrations regarding the matter and hope WMATA changes their mind before the new positive balance requirement to enter a Metro station takes place.

According to the advisory council’s chairman Francis DeBernardo, Metro has requested the councils feedback about the best way to approach the revised list of options pertaining to the SmarTrip. New options will be discussed on Sept. 16 at a finance committee meeting and later on Sept. 30 during a Metro board meeting.

Rachel moved to DC in the fall of 2005 to study Journalism and Music at American University. When she’s not keeping up with the latest Major League Baseball news, she works on making music as an accomplished singer-songwriter and was even a featured performer/speaker at TEDxDupont Circle in 2012. Rachel has also contributed to The Washington Examiner and MASN Sports’ Nationals Buzz as a guest blogger. See why she loves DC. E-Mail: rachel@welovedc.com.

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