Washington - Roughly a third of riders ask for bus transfers, and all those riders can expect to see a change on their trips on Metro transit this morning. Metro has made a big change: they have gotten rid of all paper transfers, moving to an exclusively electronic system.

Like some other riders, Antonio Mena wasn't ready for the change from paper transfers to SmarTrip cards on his commute this morning. He had to pay the full price fare of each bus ride, totalling $2.70, when with a SmarTrip he'd only have paid $1.25.

One bus driver said that many of his riders were caught unprepared by the change, asking, "What happened? Why no more transfers? So I explained it to them, what the situation was."

The SmarTrip card costs $5.00 to start with, and then riders can add value to it. With a SmarTrip card, riders can transfer from bus-to-bus for free. And for riders going either bus-to-rail or rail-to-bus, using the SmarTrip card will reduce their fares by 50 cents. Metro rail rider Vivian Drake likes the system, noting, "I think it's great, convenient -- you can put a lot of money on the card."

It's all part of an effort to get everyone to adopt the electronic fare system, an effort which began years ago with Metro station parking lots where drivers have had to have a SmarTrip card to get out of the lots.

The move to electronic transfers aims to attempt to speed up bus service, minimize fraud, and save $300,000 a year on paper, printing, and transfer machine maintenance.

Some think that the change will prompt some customers to lash out at Metro bus drivers. "I've heard people spit on [drivers], I've heard people throw stuff at them, cuss them out," reported rider Nicole McKinney.

And even a change that saves people money may irritate riders, some have noted. "I can see where Metro's coming from, but people are going to get angry regardless," suggested rider Marcus Reynolds.

"The fact that someone would assault you or verbally attack you over a piece of paper... there are some people out here that would do anything," Nesaline Davis, a Metro bus operator, lamented. Metro hopes that using the SmarTrip cards will reduce the number of disputes over transfers, and thus help to safeguard drivers.

The electronic system does have a number of advantages over paper transfers: exact change is not required when using the SmarTrip card, and that speeds up the boarding process, which should please riders. The new transfer system will also extend the amount of time bus riders have to go from bus to bus by an hour, from a two-hour window to a three-hour one.

"For the upcoming inauguration, hopefully moving everybody over to the SmarTrip will speed the process in and out of the Metro," said one rider.

Another rider, Ty Johnson, added, "Once you get on a bus you just swipe it and keep moving... it's easier."

Beware, though, that those without a SmarTrip card will have to pay the full round-trip cost for each transfer in cash, and will not get the discounts available to SmarTrip users.

Metro also notes that riders can still use tokens, but if they want to benefit from the free bus-to-bus transfer they need to add the value of the token to a SmarTrip card. Loading the value of their tokens onto a SmarTrip card also means that they will save 10 cents on their bus fare.

Antonio Mena is ready now, having purchased his SmarTrip card by the time of his afternoon commute. "I got here, got my SmarTrip pass now... so I'm pretty excited about that."

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On the web:

Metro on the Elimination of Paper Transfers

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