Free Metro Exit at Some Stations
Several Post reporters have heard stories of Metro station managers letting riders enter and leave Metro stations without scanning their cards, giving some free rides.
One such story comes from Dan Morse, reporting from the New Carrollton station around 4:15 p.m.
"See you in four years. Walk through the gates. No cards. Have a nice day," came the loud, friendly voice of Metro Police Officer Marlon Parker as a heavy stream of riders left the station.
"No thanks," joked one rider in reponse, perhaps chilled after a long day downtown. "I'm watching it on HD."
So does Metro stand to lose a lot of money by doing this? Perhaps, but, as Parker pointed out, many riders will keep their commemorative SmartCards rather than use them again -- amounting, in Metro's case, to something like an unspent Best Buy gift card.
Parker noted that many of the people were going to save their all-day
passes anyway, so Metro wasn't necessarily losing money on every free exit.
By
Washington Post Editors
|
January 20, 2009; 4:43 PM ET
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Posted by: WxDude | January 20, 2009 5:22 PM | Report abuse
It was Free Exit at Vienna when we got off around 4pm.
Posted by: bvitale | January 20, 2009 5:45 PM | Report abuse
When I got to the L'Enfant Plaza metro station exits, they were open. That was good a good decision because the very large crowd moved slowly without having to scan the cards. I did not have to scan the metro card when returning home from the Waterfront metro. Just as I got to the gate, they opened them. Probably because the crowds entering the station were getting larger by the second. Maybe they lost revenue but they made good decisions in terms of safety.
Posted by: apple90210 | January 20, 2009 5:56 PM | Report abuse
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Besides, it's easier to move people out when you don't have to process farecards...even more so when you have the millions of people that aren't from around here.