The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (DC) has asked 150,000 riders to test a new feature that lets them add money to their SmarTrip farecards online using credit and debit cards and plans to expand the program to all passholders later this month. WMATA initially recruited a smaller group of riders to test the cards a few months ago. WMATA is also moving forward with plans to transition to an open fare payment system. According to The Washington Post, seven firms responded to Metro’s request for proposals for a new fare system, including ACS, Accenture, CSC, Cubic, FIS, IBM, and Revere Group. In a related story, The City Fix writes about the experience of other transit agencies that allow customers to add values to their passes online.
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I love this idea! When I got my SmarTrip card are registered it online, literally my first thought was “wow, it would be cool if I could add fare online!”. Have you seen what TfL is doing in London? Check out that post here. I think worldwide people are making a lot of positive changes to make transportation easier!