“Aaaaauuuuuugggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!,” writes NBC Washington’s Asha Beh, vocalizing an emotion familiar to the District: that wretched howl of frustration you scream from the far corner of your soul when you miss a train because some jerk tourist couldn’t figure out how to do the SmarTrip machine. Time is money, and the minutes of your life lost behind bumbling tourists examining those fare-trip charts would buy a lot of tchotchkes. Metro, it would seem, is not unsympathetic. Officials are considering an alternative to Metro and SmarTrip cards that would draw the money directly from a rider’s debit or credit card.

Further, the technology is designed to work everywhere: D.C., Philadelphia, and L.A. transit authorities are evaluating the system, while the Metro Transportation Authority in New York is testing it now and Utah’s already on it. In the near future, a single bank card could be used to take the L, metro, subway, city bus, and whatever Utah has. The Post reports that the board will decide this month whether Metro will solicit proposals to implement the new system.

Designed around the uniform microchip that’s standard to all credit cards, the unified transit credit system sounds a little bit one-world-government. Why wouldn’t it work in Paris or London next? Does the unified transit credit move us one step closer to the dread global currency?

Photo by jcolman