WTOP passes along a breathless quote from board member Peter Benjamin, which seems to indicate that riders will be able to scan credit cards at fare gates instead of taking the extra step to use a card to refill a SmarTrip or paper farecard. Or perhaps you’ll be able to connect a credit card to your SmarTrip, which will automatically debit your card for your trip. For a feature which will be available in “within the next year to 18 months,” it’s not really clear how what Benjamin is talking about will work. That aside, it’s only logical to add more transactions to a SmarTrip system which already works so flawlessly, right? Pity on the poor individual who loses a SmarTrip card tied to a credit card and has to not only get a replacement SmarTrip from Metro, but also work with their credit card company or bank to remove the card information from the old card and on to the new one. Hope you like hold music!