Community Corner

Report: SmarTrip To Cost Just $2

The bus and rail fare card price will change Oct. 1.

By Whitney Teal


There’s some slightly different math to remember the next time you need to replace a SmarTrip card, Washington City Paper reports. Instead of paying $10 for a card with a $5 fare loaded, SmarTrips will now cost $10 but include $8 of fare preloaded.

City Paper wrote:

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[Metro General Manager Richard] Sarles said that the new pricing is part of a move away from paper farecards—the machinery to process paper cards is difficult to maintain, according to a WMATA press release, compared to SmarTrip technology. WMATA began charging a $1 surcharge per trip on paper farecards to encourage SmarTrip usage.

The change is effective Oct. 1.

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What do you think? Will a fee reduction make you more inclined to use SmarTrip instead of paper farecards? Do you already use SmarTrip? Tell us in the comments!


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