Wednesday, September 20, 2006

seriously?

can you really not buy a monthly unlimited public transit pass in DC? because i've been clicking around the Metro website for about 20 minutes now, and it's dawning on me that it might not be that i'm unable to find the page that has the monthly pass info - it might be that you really can't get one.

i mean, i could even get a monthly pass in boston, of all places! land of the B line and ancient trolley cars! and this city, arguably the national capital to end all national capitals, can't figure out a way to let its citizens purchase train and bus rides in bulk? it makes them wallow in the continual uncertainty of whether they have enough of a balance on their card for that $1.35 bus trip home??

i am honestly dumbstruck. some DCer, please prove me wrong here...

7 comments:

jayniek said...

i think you can get a Smartrip card?

and you can puts lots o' $$ on it. even more than a month.

it's been a while though, so i could be wrong. i would wait for confirmation from a current res.

kate.d. said...

yeah, but see the smartrip card is not the same as an unlimited monthly pass. with an unlimited pass, you just charge your $75 or whatever to the card, and you ride all month. next month, repeat.

with this, even though you can put a ton on there, you have to remember when it's going to run out and re-pay. i am bad at remembering. i want the MTA to remember for me, and take my money automatically!

is that so hard?

Roni said...

Have you asked Laura about this? Me thinks she's a public trans chica. If I can remember, I think I also have some extra train passes with money still on them. Dunno if they expire, but I'm not headed to DC anytime soon.

Jared Goralnick said...

No, no monthly pass. They used to have one though, and it was over $300... DC Metro = NOT CHEAP. Think: $5 plus each day if you're using rail (i.e., not bus). However, as for SmartTrip, you can spend up to negative $5 in the case where you just ran out of bus money...

The only good news is that it's very clean...

educand - said...

No, you've got to be kidding. DC does not have a monthly pass? What kind of backwater, two-stop-subway town doesn't have a discount, unlimited access monthly pass? Clearly some grassroots organizing is in order.

Anonymous said...

They may not have a monthly pass...

but, IT"S so PRETTY!

kate.d. said...
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