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Metro to Balance Transfer Fees for SmarTrip Users
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Riders who use a rail pass to pay for their subway ride and then get a discounted rail-to-bus paper transfer will no longer receive that discount. Those riders can switch to SmarTrip or keep their rail passes and buy bus passes, officials said.
Metro wants to get rid of paper transfers to cut costs and fraud and speed bus boarding. Metro officials estimate they will collect at least $5 million more a year in bus revenue.
Metro has put together an outreach program to inform riders about the phaseout of paper transfers. But board members' desire to push ahead with the balanced discounts means Metro staff will be scrambling to explain to riders how the program will work.
Key to all the moves is the smooth functioning of SmarTrip, which has been troubled by repeated delays and cost overruns, according to an audit by Metro's inspector general. Customer-friendly features such as the ability to compute 254 bus and rail fares and passes were supposed to be in place by last month but were delayed until 2010.
Yesterday, Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said transit agency officials have moved to speed up the timetable. SmarTrip cards will be able to compute all 254 bus and rail fares and passes by September, he said.
That's also when riders will be able to buy, reload and track their SmarTrip cards on a Web site. By December 2009, Metro also plans to give riders the option of having value added to their cards automatically -- much like in the E-ZPass electronic toll payment system -- when they fall below a certain level.
Peter Benjamin, who represents Maryland on the board, said Metro is also exploring a feature that would allow riders to pay their fares by touching a credit or debit card, instead of their SmarTrip card, to the fare gate. The New York subway system is testing a similar system, as are the London and Paris subway systems, officials said.
