LuminousVoid

A few months ago I purchased a DC Metro Smartrip card. The cards cost $5, and from then on you can add value to the cards at just about any station or bus. They don’t offer any discount, but they are more convenient than the paper farecard alternative. One real nice convenience is people keep them in their purse or wallet and simply swipe the purse/wallet on the turnstyle. Smartrip is, however, the only way to pay for parking at the Metro stations that have parking lots. Like farecards, you have to use the same card to enter and exit, and there is a maximum of 1 rider per card — the DC Metro doesn’t just charge per ride, but charges different rates depending on the length of the ride.

You can own the card anonymously — you can buy them online via credit card or with cash at the Metro Center station, or the various vending machines in the parking lots. However, if you register your card to your name and address, a replacement value card can be issued to you when it is reported lost or stolen — provided you remembered the password you gave when registering as well as the card’s serial number. This tells me the RFID chip on the card doesn’t store the value of the card, its just an identifier.

Supposedly one doesn’t need to use a real name or address, but my guess is this is the address that they send the replacement to. They also charge $5 for the replacement, and you probably can’t pay that with cash. The registration page contains this disclaimer:

This information may be used for current or future WMATA programs. WMATA will disclose information pursuant to applicable laws or law enforcement purpose. WMATA will not share or sell this information for any other purpose.

Of course, the real interesting stuff isn’t on the website. How long do they keep the trip data for? How long do they associate it with my serial number? I’ll write to them monday and try to find out.

Update: WMATA Responds.