Metro News Release

For immediate release: March 19, 2004

Purchase SmarTrip cards before the rush

Metro is moving to a tech-savvy cashless parking lot system by June 28, which means that all customers will have to pay their daily parking via a SmarTrip card starting the last week of June. Currently, approximately 71 percent of parkers in Metro lots use SmarTrip cards to pay for their daily parking. The other 29 percent will need to purchase a SmarTrip card prior to the launch of a SmarTrip-only parking system on June 28. SmarTrip is a rechargeable farecard that can be used to pay for parking, Metrorail rides, and some Metrobus routes (soon expanding to all Metrobuses). The card is plastic" like a credit card" and is imbedded with a computer chip that keeps track of the value of the card and facilitates electronic communications with SmarTrip " targets." Parkers simply tap the SmarTrip card on the target to enter or exit the parking lot; the parking fee is deducted from the card and the gate is lifted, allowing the car to enter or exit the lot or garage. Parking attendants will be on hand to assist customers. To ensure the availability of SmarTrip cards to parking customers, Metro will install dispensing machines that sell the cards for $5 in its stations with parking facilities. Customers will then need to add fare value to the card by taking it to a fare vending machine. Once loaded with value, SmarTrip can be used seamlessly to pay for parking fees as well as for fares to ride Metrorail and some Metrobuses. All Metrobuses will be outfitted with new SmarTrip-accepting fareboxes later this year. Currently only a few hundred Metrobuses have the SmarTrip fareboxes installed. " Customers who park in Metro lots and currently pay with cash shouldn" t wait until June to get a SmarTrip card and start using it," explained Leona Agouridis, Metro’s Assistant General Manager for Communications. " Parkers should get a SmarTrip card now and enjoy the benefits of a quicker, simpler exit from our parking lots right away. It also offers freedom from having to have cash on hand." SmarTrip cards cost $5 each, plus the amount of fare the individual wants to purchase on the card. Customers may add up to $200 in value on a SmarTrip card, so it can last a long time between charging. SmarTrip is available for purchase by cash or credit/debit card at any of three Metro sales offices; at any of 11 commuter stores; at special retail outlets; via U.S. mail; at any of six specific Metrobus divisions; or online at http://www.wmata.com/riding/smartrip.cfm. Locations of SmarTrip sales locations are also available online or by calling 202-637-7000. If someone loses a SmarTrip card, they don" t lose the value. For a $5 fee to replace the card itself, Metro will reissue a new SmarTrip card with the value on the card at the time the customer notified officials that it was lost. For this valuable replacement feature, customers must register their card, either at the point of purchase, via the mail or online. Currently, customers who park in Metro-owned parking lots pay if they exit the parking lots between 2 and 10 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. Under the new plan, the payment hours would be expanded from 9 a.m. until closing Mondays through Fridays. Weekend and Federal holiday parking at Metro lots will remain free.

News release issued on March 19, 2004.