WMATA Police to begin stopping students without valid DC One cards and deny them entry

[Anonymous]

Ok, but I've had problems with defective cards for my kids-- sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. So what if your perfectly law abiding kid gets stopped because the card is defective? Are they going to walk to school? go home and miss a day?

I hope there is a process in place-- something like the kid's card is photographed by the guard and s/he tells the kid to get on the metro to get to school and s/he needs to get the card replaced. the guard can email or text the photograph of the metro card with the card number info to the WMATA staff for further investigation of why the card is defective. Sometimes it's the card that is at fault, not the student, the parent, or the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, but I've had problems with defective cards for my kids-- sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. So what if your perfectly law abiding kid gets stopped because the card is defective? Are they going to walk to school? go home and miss a day?

I hope there is a process in place-- something like the kid's card is photographed by the guard and s/he tells the kid to get on the metro to get to school and s/he needs to get the card replaced. the guard can email or text the photograph of the metro card with the card number info to the WMATA staff for further investigation of why the card is defective. Sometimes it's the card that is at fault, not the student, the parent, or the school.

Give them a smartrip card with money on it to use until you get the problem fixed. The folks at the Students Ride Free office are really helpful now -- a few years ago, not so much.

[Anonymous]

I get off at Takoma and I swear that all of the school-aged kids just exit at the gate. They're not showing their pass, because they make a point of going to the gate that is at the elevator, with no attendant.

I always wonder how they get ON, since I see how they get OFF. But now I guess they are just walking through the gate at the other end.

What burns me up is that I came through the gate ONCE because the machine was broken, fully intending to true up at the other end, and got sent back by a surly WMATA cop. Meanwhile, she watched tens of school-agers waltz through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I somehow get the feeling that the vast majority of posters on this thread don't have kids that ride Metro.

Because I remember Fawn Hall? I'm in my forties and have children who ride metro. I grew up in DC reading the newspaper and remember all kinds of tidbits (the man who drove the van he claimed was filled with explosives up the Washington Monument, the redskins winning, and subsequently losing the Superbowl.) I paid attention to stuff. I guess these days I would be called precocious. And metro was dreamy back then. Clean as a whistle. I clearly remember riding it when I was a tween and noticing a cool early hip hop styled guy laughing his ass off. He then proclaimed, "I'm from NY. You all have carpets on your trains!?" it was awesome. Metro used to be fun for kids and everyone else. Take back metro! I'm all for some common sense law.

[Anonymous]

Info on how to get be sure your child's card is activated and working before the deadline - from the PCSB but applies to all students.

http://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/kids-ride-free

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I somehow get the feeling that the vast majority of posters on this thread don't have kids that ride Metro.

Because I remember Fawn Hall? I'm in my forties and have children who ride metro. I grew up in DC reading the newspaper and remember all kinds of tidbits (the man who drove the van he claimed was filled with explosives up the Washington Monument, the redskins winning, and subsequently losing the Superbowl.) I paid attention to stuff. I guess these days I would be called precocious. And metro was dreamy back then. Clean as a whistle. I clearly remember riding it when I was a tween and noticing a cool early hip hop styled guy laughing his ass off. He then proclaimed, "I'm from NY. You all have carpets on your trains!?" it was awesome. Metro used to be fun for kids and everyone else. Take back metro! I'm all for some common sense law.

I'm seeing a lot more dogs on the Metro, and not just of the trained, seeing-eye variety. People are taking animals on board trains, claiming that they are "support animals." One night there was this scruffy guy on the train, and his dog relieved itself right in the car. The kiosk operator said that they have been told not to challenge such persons, claiming that they can't ask for a certificate showing that the dog is a support animal or even stop someone whose pet is not wearing a vest/decal. What sort of "support" do passengers with dog allergies get?! When animals are pissing in the stations and on the trains, Metro is truly going to the dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes they should do this - the students who are riding to and from school should be responsible enough to keep track of and properly use the card - it is a really nice benefit but asking beneficiaries to follow the rules seems like a completely reasonable request.

I don't understand what the basic issue Wilson students have with using the DC One Card but lots of them just walk around the fare gates coming and going to school every day at the Tenleytown Metro. I've seen groups of 15-20 kids get off a train and all just walk through the unlocked gate like the rules of the world don't matter to them.

Just preparing for later life.

One in three will end up in jail, so we will see about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I somehow get the feeling that the vast majority of posters on this thread don't have kids that ride Metro.

Because I remember Fawn Hall? I'm in my forties and have children who ride metro. I grew up in DC reading the newspaper and remember all kinds of tidbits (the man who drove the van he claimed was filled with explosives up the Washington Monument, the redskins winning, and subsequently losing the Superbowl.) I paid attention to stuff. I guess these days I would be called precocious. And metro was dreamy back then. Clean as a whistle. I clearly remember riding it when I was a tween and noticing a cool early hip hop styled guy laughing his ass off. He then proclaimed, "I'm from NY. You all have carpets on your trains!?" it was awesome. Metro used to be fun for kids and everyone else. Take back metro! I'm all for some common sense law.

I'm seeing a lot more dogs on the Metro, and not just of the trained, seeing-eye variety. People are taking animals on board trains, claiming that they are "support animals." One night there was this scruffy guy on the train, and his dog relieved itself right in the car. The kiosk operator said that they have been told not to challenge such persons, claiming that they can't ask for a certificate showing that the dog is a support animal or even stop someone whose pet is not wearing a vest/decal. What sort of "support" do passengers with dog allergies get?! When animals are pissing in the stations and on the trains, Metro is truly going to the dogs.

They should have to register their support animals who also should be assigned a Smart trip pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, but I've had problems with defective cards for my kids-- sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't. So what if your perfectly law abiding kid gets stopped because the card is defective? Are they going to walk to school? go home and miss a day?

I hope there is a process in place-- something like the kid's card is photographed by the guard and s/he tells the kid to get on the metro to get to school and s/he needs to get the card replaced. the guard can email or text the photograph of the metro card with the card number info to the WMATA staff for further investigation of why the card is defective. Sometimes it's the card that is at fault, not the student, the parent, or the school.

Give them a smartrip card with money on it to use until you get the problem fixed. The folks at the Students Ride Free office are really helpful now -- a few years ago, not so much.

Good to know things have improved!

the problem in my situation is that my kid didn't tell me the card was defective-- the guards would just let him go in when he flashed his card. I didn't know that it was defective until I wanted to drop him of at different station than usual one day and he was concerned that the guards wouldn't be as cool as the typical station guards. News to me that he was having problems. But you are right-- most kids would just be honest with their parents when they are having a problem and use a spare smarttrip card with $ loaded to it until a new card is ordered and arrives.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Metro employees have been enabling the behavior for years. My kids have DC One cards. Metro employees smile at them and open the turnstiles and wave them through. Bus drivers wave them on without asking them to tap their cards. My kids cards don't work. They never have.

So now all of a sudden metro wants to crack down? I'm all for it. Metro is bleeding money and DCPS should pay its fair share. But there's been NO outreach on this aside from the "call this number if your child's DC One Card doesn't work" and ONE email from my kids' school. Half the kids boarding the metro in the morning still aren't showing their cards and no one is telling them they need a card in 10 days. So you are talking thousands of kids being turned away from school transportation.

And you know where the real shitshow is going to happen? With the private school kids who will now have to pay to go to school. No more free rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Metro employees have been enabling the behavior for years. My kids have DC One cards. Metro employees smile at them and open the turnstiles and wave them through. Bus drivers wave them on without asking them to tap their cards. My kids cards don't work. They never have.

So now all of a sudden metro wants to crack down? I'm all for it. Metro is bleeding money and DCPS should pay its fair share. But there's been NO outreach on this aside from the "call this number if your child's DC One Card doesn't work" and ONE email from my kids' school. Half the kids boarding the metro in the morning still aren't showing their cards and no one is telling them they need a card in 10 days. So you are talking thousands of kids being turned away from school transportation.

And you know where the real shitshow is going to happen? With the private school kids who will now have to pay to go to school. No more free rides.

I imagine the 'crackdown' will happen station by station, bus line by bus line because there aren't enough metro police to do it otherwise.

What have you done to get your kids cards working? Gone online to check the account? Called the help line? Gone to the farr and machine two days in a row?

They don't work by magic - you need to do a couple things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Metro employees have been enabling the behavior for years. My kids have DC One cards. Metro employees smile at them and open the turnstiles and wave them through. Bus drivers wave them on without asking them to tap their cards. My kids cards don't work. They never have.

So now all of a sudden metro wants to crack down? I'm all for it. Metro is bleeding money and DCPS should pay its fair share. But there's been NO outreach on this aside from the "call this number if your child's DC One Card doesn't work" and ONE email from my kids' school. Half the kids boarding the metro in the morning still aren't showing their cards and no one is telling them they need a card in 10 days. So you are talking thousands of kids being turned away from school transportation.

And you know where the real shitshow is going to happen? With the private school kids who will now have to pay to go to school. No more free rides.

I imagine the 'crackdown' will happen station by station, bus line by bus line because there aren't enough metro police to do it otherwise.

What have you done to get your kids cards working? Gone online to check the account? Called the help line? Gone to the farr and machine two days in a row?

They don't work by magic - you need to do a couple things.

Odd - both of my kids have DC One cards and I had to set them both up to get them working but have never had any subsequent problems with the cards so don't understand the alleged problem the PP had so wonder how hard she tried?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Metro employees have been enabling the behavior for years. My kids have DC One cards. Metro employees smile at them and open the turnstiles and wave them through. Bus drivers wave them on without asking them to tap their cards. My kids cards don't work. They never have.

So now all of a sudden metro wants to crack down? I'm all for it. Metro is bleeding money and DCPS should pay its fair share. But there's been NO outreach on this aside from the "call this number if your child's DC One Card doesn't work" and ONE email from my kids' school. Half the kids boarding the metro in the morning still aren't showing their cards and no one is telling them they need a card in 10 days. So you are talking thousands of kids being turned away from school transportation.

And you know where the real shitshow is going to happen? With the private school kids who will now have to pay to go to school. No more free rides.

I imagine the 'crackdown' will happen station by station, bus line by bus line because there aren't enough metro police to do it otherwise.

What have you done to get your kids cards working? Gone online to check the account? Called the help line? Gone to the farr and machine two days in a row?

They don't work by magic - you need to do a couple things.

Odd - both of my kids have DC One cards and I had to set them both up to get them working but have never had any subsequent problems with the cards so don't understand the alleged problem the PP had so wonder how hard she tried?

:Lucky you! Yes, the cards would work for a while, but then evidently they stopped working. this isn't shocking stuff. Sometimes things break. Maybe the magnetic strip became damaged. The card would work sometimes but not all the time. When I spoke with the DC one card people they weren't surprised that the card had become defective. they just said that rather than try to fix it I should ask the school to just order a new one. No one accused me of making up an alleged problem as you are.

[Anonymous]

Cards are supplied with a plastic transparent cover/case for a reason. Have you kids keep it inside the case and you won't have a problem.

My son's card worked with no problems for 2 years. Then he lost it, applied for a new one which worked perfectly for the remaining 9 months.

Just keep it in the case.

Many parents do not even want to be bothered to activate their kids'card. In my school the front office helped the parents who were having trouble activating their cards.

Many private school kids, my son tells me (he has friends in a number of DC privates) just ride for free, and use the money parents give them for transportation to buy candies and goodies instead.

[Anonymous]

Why does every post about DCPS turn into racist ranting about stealing and flaunting the law? We are talking about elementary school students here and the enforcement period needs to be longer, and there needs to be better communication with parents. My kids are at a well-regarded charter school and at a high performing DCPS institution, and I had not heard about these new enforcement activities. Bus drivers can manually add the fare for kids who flash their cards. As far as giving your kid an extra smart trip card loaded with money -- that's totally unnecessary as the DC One card also functions as smart card that can be loaded with $$. When the DC One card doesn't work on metro, it's usually because there's a negative balance on it that prevents the student benefit from loading.

Let's be kind here and stop talking about children like they are deliberately breaking the law versus just being kids.