It was probably silly to assume that there would be any groundbreaking news revealed about the future of SmarTrip cards at yesterday's meeting of the WMATA Board of Directors. Indeed, the same old script was trotted out: WMATA's thinking about linking electronic balances to credit cards once the agency runs out of SmarTrip cards in a couple of years, but there's still plenty of debate about how that linking should be done. more ›

Following up on this morning's news that WMATA will need to procure a new manufacturer for SmarTrip cards within a couple of years, Adam Tuss reports that Metro board chairman Peter Benjamin told him that new technology would let riders use their credit cards as SmarTrip cards. Obviously, there's a lot of details which would need to be hashed out -- for instance, what happens with SmartBenefits and whether there would be inequities between different cards offering linking or not -- but the obvious plusses (like being able to set up automatic withdrawal from your card to fill your SmarTrip) make it an intriguing development. more ›

A former server at the Wisconsin Avenue Cheesecake Factory has plead guilty to organizing a fraud ring to steal customers' credit card information, reports NBC4. Nicole Ward was charged with bank fraud last May after two fellow servers attested that she had recruited themin the scheme, racking up $117,000 in charges from June 2008 to May 2009 and taking information from nearly 90 credit cards. Sentencing will occur October 29; Ward faces nearly 30 years in prison. more ›

Just as citywide changes to parking meter fares and enforcement hours have taken effect, the District Department of Transportation is installing a number of new solar-powered parking meters as part of a pilot program, officials said. The new meters will also accept credit cards as well as coins. more ›

A couple weeks ago we linked to a post on popular Clarendon bar Galaxy Hut's MySpace blog announcing that owner Lary Hoffman had decided to stop accepting credit cards. The announcement sparked a number of agitated and sarcastic comments accusing Hoffman of passing on unnecessary extra costs, like ATM fees, to his customers. Thanks to the negative reaction, over the weekend Hoffman emailed us and posted a comment on the same thread saying he'd changed his mind. more ›