WMATA could entice more riders to buy passes and not lose significant revenue by allowing monthly Metrorail passes to also include unlimited bus rides. Only recently has WMATA introduced a pass that works on both rail and bus (the SelectPass), but it still costs significantly more to add a bus pass to a rail pass and vice versa. However, you can’t use a SmarTrip or Charm Card to pay commuter rail fare on MARC or VRE, except for Transit Link Cards (many other regions’ contactless fare cards can be used on commuter rail as well as local transit), and you also must have separate form of payment to use Capital Bikeshare, commuter buses, taxis, etc. One notable one is the interchangeability between DC’s SmarTrip (administered by WMATA) and Baltimore’s Charm Card (administered by the Maryland Transit Administration) either card works on all the greater DC jurisdictions’ bus systems (including regional bus passes loaded onto a SmarTrip). There are precious few other examples of similar interagency cooperation in our region. MARC and VRE riders can use buses (and VRE riders with Transit Link Cards can use Metrorail) to cover the first or last mile at either end of their train trip as well as to get around on evenings and weekends, all for no additional cost.

These features make MARC and VRE passes a great deal not only for those who travel regularly between DC and Baltimore, but also for commuters who come into DC from places like Rockville, Gaithersburg, Kensington, College Park, Greenbelt, New Carrollton, Alexandria, Crystal City, and Franconia/Springfield. VRE riders can also purchase monthly Transit Link Cards, which are like SmarTrip cards, but are good for unlimited rides on both Metrorail and VRE during the month. Similarly, a paper VRE ticket (single ride, weekly or monthly) is valid for rides on any bus service that connects with a VRE station (including Metrobus, ART, DASH, Fairfax Connector, FRED (Fredericksburg) and PRTC/OmniLink buses) at no additional fare. Simply show it to the station agent when entering the subway or to a fare inspector on light rail. Your MARC ticket is also an unlimited pass to all of Baltimore’s transit system, including the subway, light rail, and buses. That obviously gets you onto a MARC train, but if you show your ticket to the driver, you owe no additional fare onĪll many of greater Washington’s bus services, including Metrobus and RideOn DC Circulator You can buy single ride, weekly, and monthly MARC passes, all for a flat fee.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a service of two Northern Virginia regional transit commissions that runs weekday rush-hour trains, in the peak direction of travel, between DC’s Union Station and Fredericksburg and Manassas/Broad Run. MARC, or Maryland Area Rail Commuter, is a service of the Maryland Transit Administration that operates daily between DC’s Union Station Baltimore Penn Station via New Carrollton throughout the day in both directions (the Penn Line), as well as rush-hour trains on weekdays between DC and Baltimore Camden Yards via Greenbelt (the Camden Line) and DC and Frederick, Maryland/Martinsburg, West Virginia via Montgomery County (the Brunswick Line).

Fairfax connector bus pass