Photo by Mr. T in DC.

Even though the Metro board spent a lot of time debating potential reforms to SmarTrip administration this year, it’s no secret that Metro will run out of the cards at some point in 2012, possibly ending the 12-year reign of the ubiquitous pieces of plastic. Curious about how nearly 1.8 million Washingtonians will pay for their daily commute once that happens? You’re not alone — and a request for proposals released by Metro this morning gets the ball rolling on that very issue.

According to Metro, the RFP seeks to “help develop the next generation of electronic fare payment to create more options for customers, make using the transit system easier and encourage new ridership.” In November, WMATA’s board of directors discussed instituting what they called “commodity cards,” which would apparently save the agency money — though the form that those cards would take was very much up in the air. In a press release, WMATA tosses around ideas of installing RFID chips inside credit and debit cards (a very polarizing concept), using federal identification cards for fare payment and expanding smart phone capabilities. The RFP also contains language which would allow potential partners to fiddle with the gate hardware in Metrorail stations and the fareboxes on Metrobuses.

Metro did note that the SmarTrip system would remain in place until a new fare system could be installed, and today’s statement indicates that there will be a chance for customers to register their input as the process moves forward.

You can skim through an entire copy of the RFP after the jump. What features would you like to see added to Metro’s fare collection mechanism?