Metro Lots Going Cashless

Switch to Prepaid Card for Parking Starts Monday

Metro is trying to prepare commuters for a major shift next week in the way they pay for parking at 33 lots and garages across the region.

On Monday, the transit agency will stop taking cash at the exits of its parking facilities, part of an effort to regain public trust following allegations that cashiers were not turning in the money, Metro officials say. An internal audit revealed that Metro might have lost as much as $1 million in annual parking revenues during the past few years.

Starting Monday, drivers must pay for parking with electronic SmarTrip cards. The prepaid, reusable cards will make parking simpler and speedier, officials say. No longer will drivers fumble through wallets for cash or scour seat cushions for change. With a tap of the card to a sensor at every gate, motorists' fees will be deducted automatically from the card.

The cashless system is so painless, Metro officials say, that nearly 80 percent of rail riders who use parking facilities already pay with SmarTrip cards.

But for patrons accustomed to paying with greenbacks, the cash to card switch can be a bewildering process.

On a recent afternoon at the Huntington station in Alexandria, members of the Huley family spotted a sandwich board advertising Metro's upcoming switch to a cashless system, and they snatched up a brochure, figuring it would tell them all they needed to know.

Instead, the Huleys were stumped.

"It doesn't indicate whether it's $5 per month or $5 per member," said George Huley of Alexandria, standing in the station's stuffy garage with his wife, Cathy, and their two children, Hilarie and Christian.

"The question I've got which has not been answered is how much it costs to park," said Cathy Huley, scanning the brochure.

"I feel badly for the people who, when they try to park here on the 28th, they have no idea," she said.

Metro officials say they are trying hard to prevent that. The agency has placed signs and brochures at stations, taken out newspaper and radio ads, published information on its Web site, and staged SmarTrip sales events at several stations. Metro also plans to install 50 SmarTrip vending machines at stations by Monday.

"We've been working hard to get the word out as much as we can," said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel.

Metro plans to post extra employees at parking facilities next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to help commuters navigate the new system.

Workers were tinkering with the innards of the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU station's three new SmarTrip card vending machines on a recent evening while Metro representatives hawked cards from a table nearby. Perplexed-looking commuters flocked to the table to buy cards and ask questions: Do you need a separate card to pay Metro fares? Does it already have money on it? Can you get out of a parking lot without a card? No, no, and yes, they were told.