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WTOP and Infosnack are both reporting that Metro's Board of Directors will consider a proposal this week that would allow CVS to sell SmarTrip cards. CVS would sell the cards for $10 (they'd be preloaded with $5 on them), and at no cost to Metro. In exchange, CVS and Metro would come to a cross-promotional arrangement. Infosnack calls the move a "win-win for Metro, CVS and riders." We're all for making SmarTrip easier to buy at more and more locations, but feel compelled to question whether making any purchase at a CVS can honestly be associated with concepts like "ease" or "convenience." Perhaps Metro's board has never been to a CVS?
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Selling them is great, but how about refilling them? It would be really nice if Metro started expanding the locations of the machines to add money to the cards.
I agree--reloading them would be key. Especially since CVS's are on every corner. Chicago has done this with Currency Exchanges and Jewel-Osco, but I've heard that lines can sometimes be long at the refilling machines. Reloading locations would be especially important in areas with a lot of bus lines but no rail stations nearby.
I agree, refilling them needs to be much simpler. If I can add money to my Starbucks card online, and set it to add money automatically when my Starbucks card falls below a certain dollar amount, surely Metro can figure out how to do it.
Next challenge: why on earth do I need to go through the pointless step of downloading my SmartBenefits onto my SmarTrip every month? It seems like an unnecessary extra step. Maybe employers hope that their employees will forget to do it, and then the employer can keep the money? Uhh, no, I will not forget to not pay for my commute, sorry.
Great...so instead of having to wait behind fat-ass waddling women filling the farebox on the S1 with nickles and dimes, I will have to wait behind them in CVS loading $1.35 on their smart card twice a day.
Now if only the wise leaders at Metro would realize what a gold mine they are sitting on and start slapping pictures of pandas, sports logos etc. on the cards. Tourists and locals who collect such things would snap them up at $10 a pop and never use them! Free money for Metro! Is that so hard to understand? Transit systems around the world do this because they actually seem to think ways of raising revenue beyond higher fares and system advertising. Imagine. Here's hoping Metro catches on soon.
WMATA needs to take a cue from Hong Kong...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
Metro should get ready for the inauguration and sell commemorative Smartrip cards for $20 each. Come on, there are people paying $1000 a night for a hotel room.
You can reload Smartrip on the bus.
Automatic refill and online reloading are coming next year.
Having just located to Taipei, Taiwan, I'm amazed at what one can do at the local 7-11 convenience store: pay all utility bills, pay cell phone bills, buy or refill the equivalent of SmartTrip cards, pay for parking tickets, and send FedEx packages, etc.
Yep, things can go further, but kudos to them for this deal. It's a great step forward.
While I agree that it would be great to reload a Smartrip card online (or at a CVS or whatever), it's really NOT THAT DIFFICULT to reload them on the bus. I've done it a number of times - no big deal. If I know I'm going to do it I let everyone else get on first so I don't hold up the boarding process.
Great idea about inaugural (and other) commemorative cards!
But you can only reload with cash on the bus, which isn't terribly helpful if you have smart benefits.
I think they have Nats cards on the metro website, but, come on...of all the DCish stuff to put on a smart trip card...
econosize: True - wish I had SmartBenefits, but as I usually walk to work and only take the bus on occasion I don't. Maybe I could get my company to subsidize my shoe leather?