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Metro no longer allows negative balances on SmarTrip cards

By Reem Nadeem

WASHINGTON — Metro will no longer allow passengers to board a bus or exit a rail station if it would lead to a negative balance on their SmarTrip cards starting Monday.

Riders will have to add money to their card at an exitfare machine just before the exit gates at most stations. Exitfare machines only accept cash.

Negative balances on SmarTrip cards from the last 17 years totals about $25 million, Metro said in November.

The change was announced Nov. 24.

Metro airs ad during college football championship to win back rush-hour riders

By Max Smith
WASHINGTON — A Metro ad that aired across the D.C. area during the second quarter of college football’s National Championship Monday night is part of the agency’s efforts to convince rush-hour riders to stick with the transit system. The ad, first put out more than a year ago, promised that Metro recognizes the problems facing the system, and will get “Back2Good.”
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