Rider, can you spare a dime?
Around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, WMATA put out a bland press release stating that Metro will begin charging a morning “peak-of-the-peak” fee starting Sunday, as previously announced.
But it was the fourth paragraph of the release that got everyone’s attention.
After stating that programming changes are required to help lower the cost of a SmarTrip card from $5 to $2.50, WMATA said, “In order to introduce the change, Metro must make technological upgrades to implement a new fare gate exit rule requiring SmarTrip card users to have full fare value on their cards when they exit the Metrorail system.”
Within minutes, the D.C. blogosphere went ballistic.
“New SmarTrip Rules To Make Faregate Delays Even Worse,” We Love D.C. declared. Writer Tiffany Bridge called WMATA’s new technology claim “ridiculous,” adding, “A significant part of the convenience value of SmarTrip cards is that you don’t have to fuss about your balance while you’re trying to get to work on time.”
WMATA says it’s only requiring SmarTrip users to have the full fare on their cards, as paper Metro card users must. OK, but Exitfare machines will remain cash-only. Bridge sums it up: “Not not only are they asking SmarTrip users to radically change the habit that is probably what got them to use SmarTrip in the first place, they’re also asking them to make it a point to carry small amounts of cash with them at all times because they still won’t allow credit card SmarTrip refills inside the faregates.”
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WMATA is trying to get us to use these things, remember?
Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert was surprised by the news. While he said it’s possible that with SmarTrip cards costing just $2.50, riders “might be able to buy a card, spend more than $2.50, and throw the card away, basically cheating Metro,” he thinks that would be unlikely to be a major issue. It takes more time to buy a SmarTrip card than it would be worth to game the system by 35 cents or so.
Alpert says it would have made more sense for WMATA to just track the data for the next few months to see if folks are actually using the lower cost of SmarTrip cards to rip off the system. “If it turns out to be more than a tiny nuisance, then go ahead and make this change,” he writes. “Otherwise it might be much ado about nothing.”
Washington City Paper, at least, finds a bright side: “For the first time in a while, a cut in quality of service is accompanied by a price decrease, instead of an increase.” But others online are less generous.
Commenters on the Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock blog were quick to sound off, with many wondering why Metro doesn’t at least add a credit card option to the Exitfare machines. One wrote, “WMATA really is making it harder and harder to support them.” Another called it “yet another step in this complicated and unnecessary change.” A third said it “feels more and more like getting across the bridge with the troll when riding Metro.” And more than one said they may stop using Metro to commute altogether.
Twitter reaction was similar, though often more colorful. “It’s good to know if I can get in, it'll let me out. But no,” writes one rider. “The exit machines will be cash-only?? Bad move, WMATA,” writes another. Says a third, “WMATA is making a terrible mistake with the new SmarTrip rules preventing people from exiting with a negative balance.”
And there’s this: “Dear WMATA, every experience I have with you is negative, so why won't you let my SmarTrip balance be negative anymore?”
Perhaps this tweet sums it all up: “Nothing brings people together like complaining about WMATA!”
