Plan Pushes Debit Card, Includes Fare Increase for Cash Users
By Lena H. Sun and Nick Miroff
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Will a SmarTrip card speed up Sandra Henríquez's bus commute? Perhaps, she thinks.
But the Arlington resident has never owned one of the electronic debit cards, nor does she know where to buy one. And she didn't know that Metro is considering raising her $1.25 bus fare by 75 cents because she pays with cash.
"The cards might be faster," Henríquez, 28, said, after hearing about the proposal last week. "But I prefer to use cash. There's more control over how much you spend."
Getting riders such as Henríquez to forego cash in favor of a SmarTrip card is one of the primary goals of a money-raising plan by Metro managers that also includes fare increases, more contributions from area taxpayers, reduced bus and rail service and administrative cuts. Under the proposal, SmarTrip riders would pay less because they save the agency money and speed people through the system.
But encouraging riders to switch to SmarTrip raises several potential problems: the minimum payment is $10, including $5 for the card; they're not accepted on regional bus systems that many Metro riders transfer to; and they can be difficult to find.
"If you're building an incentive into the SmarTrip, and you can't have access to it, then it is really a penalty," said Metro board Chairman Gladys W. Mack, who represents the District.
Cards are sold online, at Metrorail stations with parking lots, Metro sales offices, area commuter stores and at 11 Giant and Safeway grocery stores in the region.
Metro officials also said switching to the cards is a politically sensitive issue because of the perception that Metrobus riders, who tend to have lower incomes, can't afford the cards and don't want to use them.
A move to SmarTrip "should be a good thing, but only if we do it right," said Christopher Zimmerman, who represents Virginia on the board.
Under the proposal, fares would increase for all Metrorail riders, but by smaller amounts for those who pay with SmarTrip cards. There would be no increase for bus riders who use SmarTrip or weekly bus passes, while others would pay an additional 75 cents. Metro has also proposed getting rid of free paper-to-paper bus transfers and one-day passes, and allowing transfers only on SmarTrip. Right now, bus fares are the same regardless of payment method.
The proposals are among several recommendations made by Metro staff this month to close a $116 million shortfall in the proposed budget for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1.
Eliminating paper transactions would reduce Metro's operating costs and cut boarding times, according to Metro board member Charles Deegan, who represents Maryland.
Paper transfers are also susceptible to fraud. When bus riders get on, they receive free transfers that allow unlimited travel for up to two hours anywhere in the region. Approximately 30 percent of all boardings involve a transfer.
Metro officials say it is common for passengers to use invalid transfers, share them or sell them, though they said it's impossible to quantify the extent of the abuse. One-day bus passes, which cost $3 and provide unlimited travel, are also being abused, officials said. It costs Metro about $200,000 a year to print and distribute day passes and transfers.
About 19 percent of the approximately 440,000 bus trips taken each day are paid with SmarTrip, officials said. By comparison, between 50 and 60 percent of rail trips are paid with SmarTrip. Overall, Metro has sold 2.2 million cards, with about 1.1 million in use, since they were introduced in 1999, officials said.
To encourage greater use of the card, Metro has been trying to install equipment so they can be used on nine regional bus systems. But the process has been delayed because of incompatible software, officials said. They said they hope the systems will be in place by summer.
Other transit agencies, including those in Houston, Boston and Chicago, have also given a break for electronic card users and eliminated paper transfers.
The Chicago Transit Authority eliminated paper transfers Jan. 1, and increased cash fares by 25 cents. Customers shifted away from cash and overall ridership also grew slightly, according to spokeswoman Sheila Gregory. Gregory also said revenue jumped, probably because cheating was reduced.
Officials in Chicago were also worried about the reaction of low-income customers. The transit agency promoted the cards in Spanish and gave away 270,000 cards. They also increased the number of locations where customers could add value to their cards, allowing such transactions at check-cashing and money-order businesses for passengers who didn't regularly use the rail, she said.
In conversations with more than a dozen Spanish-speaking Metrobus riders along Columbia Pike last week, not one had heard of the proposal or had bought a SmarTrip card.
Mostly, the plan was met with skepticism and confusion. Do they sell SmarTrip cards at CVS? (No.) When do they expire? (They don't.) Can you still use transfers with them? (Yes.)
"I don't even have a television," said Maria Escobar, explaining why she'd never heard of the SmarTrip card. She was waiting for the 16 bus to Pentagon City en route to a temporary job at Fort Belvoir. Escobar said she didn't like the proposed fare increase but would try to switch to a card if she could find one. "I guess I don't have a choice," she said.
Construction worker Jorge Antonio, 27, said he liked the idea of having money in reserve on a card when his wallet might be empty. But he didn't know where to get one or how much it would cost. "I don't always have money, so it'd help me save up a little," he said.
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