The bus is approaching, and you don’t have cash — or forgot to load your SmarTrip card. Soon that may not be a problem.
Metro is preparing to launch its “Tap. Ride. Go.” payment system on all Metrobuses by mid-November, according to a recent presentation to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board. The update was shared by Allison Davis, WMATA’s acting vice president of planning and programming.
“’Tap. Ride. Go.’ allows riders to tap a credit or debit card directly on the fare reader at the bus door,” Davis said. “Through SmarTrip, through ‘Tap. Ride. Go.’, there’s no excuse not to pay.”
Metro told WTOP that more details on the rollout will be available in the coming days.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein reported on the contactless ‘Tap. Ride. Go.’ payment system when it first launched across all Metrorail stations in May. Riders can use credit cards with the contactless symbol, or mobile payment options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay to enter through fare gates.
“We are advancing projects to improve customer convenience by making it easier to pay for trips and navigate the system,” said Jordan Holt, WMATA’s senior director of performance, benchmarking and customer service, at the same WMATA board meeting.
Since May’s launch of ‘Tap. Ride. Go.’, more than 1 million unique users have paid via contactless methods on Metrorail — instead of preloading fares onto SmarTrip cards.
WMATA officials said they hope expanding payment options will help address fare evasion, which remains a concern. According to data presented to the board, fare evasion on Metrobus is at 68%, compared to just over 4% on Metrorail.