A pilot program which will allow 5,000 randomly selected users to add money and passes to their SmarTrip cards online has gone live.

Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert, who was luckier than this editor and landed himself a spot in the pilot, has a nice tutorialon how the system works, noting that the program allows riders who register their SmarTrip cards online to add between $10 and $200 to their cards. (The only pass currently available is a 7-day bus pass, though others will be added later.) You’ll still need to go to a Metro station or bus to transfer the uploaded value to your card, and, as Alpert notes, it appears as if there’s up to a 24-hour delay — so the system might not work if, say, you realize an hour before you leave work that you need to add funds.

The program, if successful, will be extended to all WMATA customers next month.