saltytheseagull

Can someone explain this to me a little bit more?
I've looked on the metro website and it doesn't seem to be explained very well.

I'm leaning towards getting a 7 day short trip pass for my five days downtown. Will this suffice?
I think my longest trip will be from Arlington to Nationals Park.
Are there distinct fare zones or is a long trip a set number of stops?
Will this also work on the buses?
Should I do it via mail order?

I'm used to logical systems such as the MTA in NYC.

flugvergnugen

Any trip costing less than $3.50 is included in your pass - which is pretty much any shorter-haul trip at any time (for reference, Ballston (farthest in Arlington) to Nationals Park (Navy Yard) is $3.20 peak).

Fares are dependent on length and time of day (peak vs. non-peak).

gailwynand

Don't expect anything related to WMATA to be reliable or logical.

Even though WMATA's CEO makes more than the head of MTA.

Anyway, this should work but check the planned service disruptions. Not sure of your days of travel but a safe assumption is that Metro will be nearly unusable on the weekends until proven otherwise.

saltytheseagull

That's kind of what I had figured. I will be in town July 3 - 7, so maybe they will take the weekend off from track work.

Thanks for the help.

djp98374

Given you are traveling on a holiday weekend they likely wont be any serious service disruptions of note other than times when they have service on only 1 of 2 tracks.

From this up coming weekend through the weekend after the 4th is a big tourist time with the 4th of July and the Smithsonian Mall exhibit.

The higher fares are going to be during rush hour on Wednesday and Friday of your time traveling. those high fares are more geared toward commuters. those higher fares roughly run from roughly 6am-9:30am and 3:30pm-7:00pm ( I could be off by a half hour ) and those fares are when you are going from the "box" out on the spurs to the ends of the line.

Thus if you basically stay within roughly the "box" area at the heart of DC bounded by the Capitol, Pentagon, National airport, and Dupont Circle you should be fine. If you are going to travel farther out then look at the time.

If you are going to see the fireworks and the National Symphony on the steps of the Capitol they keep cars ready for right after the fireworks are done for the crowds that will board the train from L'enfant and Smithsonian stations.

Tip---if you are going to go back to your hotel in Arlington ---when leaving the mall look to go to Capitol South station and then take the red/blue line to your hotel...or go north to Navy Archives to get the southbound yellow line before most board at L'Enfant for Arlington.

silverthief2

Sadly not true. There will be track work on the Orange Line out to the east that weekend, which will increase headways on that line even if you aren't traveling through the work zone: http://wmata.com/rail/trackwork.cfm Where in Arlington will you be?

Anna Phor

Are you planning on taking at least two trips every day?

I'd recommend buying a farecard ($5), putting $15 on it, and re-upping if you run out of funds. The trip from Arlington (cemetery, is that what you mean?) is $1.95 off-peak. Cheapest fare is $1.35.

Use this page to figure your home base station, and then scroll down to get fares to "all other stations" to give you a sense of what your daily ride average is likely to be. There are peak and off-peak charges. If you are not traveling far, your fare is likely to be $2 or less.

I think this is likely to be a better bet than the $35 short trip pass.

joanek

Regarding farecards---skip the paper ones and if you're making more than 5 trips, get a smartcard. There is now a dollar surcharge per ride on each fare paid by paper card.
As for track work on the holidays--- the Fourth itself is clear, but there will be some weekend work. Www.wmata.org should have the latest.

Annandaler

Important correction: the website is www.wmata.com (not .org).

saltytheseagull

I will be hotel hopping. LM Arlington on the 3rd, Fairfax at Embassy row on the 4th, and the W on the 5th and 6th. I would venture to say at least two trips a day. One to and from the hotel, plus any other incidentals.

saltytheseagull

I survived and ended up getting a smartcard with the 7 day pass. I didn't bother doing the math, but it was rather convenient. Everything ended up being a short trip. Thanks for everyone's input. I might be utilizing it again in three weeks because of the crazy high airfares into BWI. It looks like I'm headed into DCA and MARCing it up.

Tafische

I have been researching, but help me understand this a little better. We will be in DC for 5 days and I think the short pass would work 4 of us and regular cards for the 2 seniors. Nearly all of our trips will to/from King St to major sites which are most all under $3.50. I don't see a way online to get just the $2 card and pass mailed to us ahead of time, but as I understand it I can get just the $2 card at the Transit Shop near our hotel and then add the 7 day online (have to go there anyway to get 2 senior cards).

So my question is there a minimum amount I can put on each card for overages? We are going to take a few trips that are like $3.55. My guess is each person will have like .20 cents of overage for the week. If I have to put a bunch of credit on each card the short pass starts to not make as much sense.

VT_hawkeye

Minimum add using cash/coins is 5 cents -- it wouldn't surprise me if it's a little higher by credit, but I've never tried to add anything below $5 with a credit card. The catch is that there is a $10 maximum change return from any fare vending machine, and you cannot switch SmarTrip cards before getting your change. So don't put a $20 into the machine and expect to load your 6 cards that way, because you will wind up with $10 stuck on the first card and a fist full of $1 coins in change. In your situation, I'd take a bunch of $1s and put $1 on each card.

You can add the weekly passes to your SmarTrip cards at a vending machine at King Street before your first ride; it's not necessary to do that online or go through the online registration processes. Ask about that at the Transit Shop; they may be able to do the whole process there too.

Enjoy your trip!

klevin99

Don't worry if you find metro fairs confusing, cards quirky to buy, and the system generally not so reliable. They probably just use the same contractor that the health care website does!

Worse, remember that it's run by committee. DC, Maryland and Virginia all have a say in its operations.

I used to ride it daily to work. Now, I walk to work whenever I can, several miles. Good exercise and often faster.

dontippet

I'm taking my family of four in July for four days. Can I buy one smart card for $5 and use it for the entire family, or is it one smart card per person?