Passengers Report Delays at Foggy Bottom Metro Station Due To SmarTrip Card Problems

WASHINGTON - Some Metro passengers have reported to FOX 5's Bob Barnard about SmarTrip card not working properly, causing delays at the Foggy Bottom-GWU station.

Metro has heard about problems this morning at the Farragut West station and along with Foggy Bottom-GWU station this afternoon, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. Metro is not sure if the problems at the two stations are related and is looking into the issues at the fare gates.

The transit agency says they have upgraded their Automated Fare Collection system to the NextFare program, a next generation fare collection software and hardware system. With this upgrade, Metro says additional time is needed for SmarTrip cards to communicate information with its target.

Metro says customers may notice that if they quickly pass their card over the fare gate, the information may not be fully received by the card or target. Metro recommends to customers to touch their card to the target and hold it there until the faregate opens.

The transit agency is exploring way to speed up the processing of the information.