Sundays are normally quieter days on the city’s public transit system, but yesterday saw one of the biggest changes to the way customers board Metrobuses since the introduction of SmarTrip cards in 2001.

WMATA announced in October that it would be putting an end to paper transfers this week, and yesterday, the change went into effect. From now on, only bus riders using SmarTrip cards will be able to take advantage of free bus-to-bus transfers and discounted rail-to-bus transfers. Bus drivers no longer give out paper transfers, and machines that dispense paper rail-to-bus transfers inside Metro stations are being removed.

By now, we all know the arguments in favor of getting rid of the paper transfers. Just removing the cost of producing and distributing them saves Metro $300,000, and the expected reduction in fraud associated with their demise should bring in additional revenue. As more and more bus riders adopt SmarTrip, passenger load times should also be reduced, increasing Metrobus reliability and on-time service.

Current SmarTrip users should also be happy about two new realities: The free-transfer period associated with SmarTrip cards has been extended from 2 hours to 3 hours, and transfer discounts now apply both to rail-to-bus AND bus-to-rail trips. The amount of the rail-to-bus transfer has been decreased to make it level with the new bus-to-rail discount, amounting to customers receiving a 50 cent discount on any trip involving a transfer between the two systems. Bus-to-bus transfers continue to be free, and will now be good for a full three hours.

Photo by lorigoldberg