Metro News Release

For immediate release: August 16, 2004

SmarTrip card’s capacity expanded to hold $300 in value

Metro’s SmarTrip cards, the reusable wallet cards that customers load with value to pay for Metrorail and Metrobus fares and for parking in Metro lots, can now hold an additional $100 in value. The cards had been able to carry a $200 balance since the card program was launched in 1999, but starting today they can carry $300 thanks to a change that was made in the way the technology is programmed.

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." Users simply tap the SmarTrip card on the target to enter or exit the Metrorail system, get on a bus, or enter or exit a parking lot; the fare or fee is deducted from the card automatically. Customers can " load" value on the cards using cash, debit card or credit card at special fare vending machines inside Metrorail stations or by using cash at a SmarTrip farebox on all Metrobuses.

Metrorail parking lots shifted to the SmarTrip card-only payment system on June 28 and as of August 9, all Metrobuses were outfitted with new SmarTrip fareboxes which accept both cash and SmarTrip cards for payment. The SmarTrip cards have been accepted at Metrorail faregates and parking lots since May 1999.

Customers can purchase SmarTrip cards at any of three Metro sales offices; via U.S. mail; at any of six specific Metrobus divisions; or at dispensing machines that sell the cards in stations with parking facilities. The cards cost $5 each, plus the amount of fare the individual wants to purchase on the card. The cards that are available at Metrorail stations sell for $10 each and come pre-loaded with $5 in fare value. The machines accept cash ($1, $5 and $10 bills only), credit cards and debit cards.

Customers may add up to $300 in value on a SmarTrip card, so it lasts a long time before needing to have value added to it.

If someone loses a SmarTrip card, they don" t lose the value if they register the card and report the loss to Metro. 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 just need to register their card, either at the point of purchase, via the mail or online.

News release issued on August 16, 2004.