Amidst the recent slew of Metro fare increases, it was a piece of good news: The price of a SmarTrip card was going to be slashed in half from $5 to $2.50.
The price cut was a way to encourage the use of plastic SmarTrip cards as Metro tries to transition from paper farecards.
But now, Metro says that discount — which was supposed to start on Sunday — is being delayed because of software issues.
“Additional programming changes are being required to implement the reduction of the cost of a SmarTrip card,” a recent Metro press release states.
Some riders who thought they’d be getting the discounted cards by now aren’t happy.
“Metro has no information whatsoever about this on the easily reachable parts of its website,” Roger from Oakton writes WTOP. “Just one more Metro screw-up.”
There is no firm date when the discount will begin. Instead, Metro says it’ll start sometime in the early fall.
Using a plastic Metro SmarTrip card instead of the paper version does pay dividends for riders — rail trips cost 25 cents less with a SmarTrip card, and bus trips cost 20 cents less.
Metro says right now, about 75 percent of rail riders and 60 percent of bus riders use SmarTrip cards.
Source:http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2041116
