Please be sure to read this whole page before continuing.
 | What Is It? |
The SmartBenefits Personal Account Service lets you apply SmartBenefits to purchases at all Commuter Store locations—including Rosslyn, Ballston, Crystal City, and the Mobile Commuter Store—and through the CommuterDirect.com mail order service.
| | Who’s Eligible? |
To participate in the SmartBenefits Personal Account Service you will need a SmarTrip card AND your employer must have you registered in Metro’s SmartBenefits program.
| | How Does It Work? |
With a SmartBenefits Personal Account, your commuting benefits are placed in a personal Commuter Store or CommuterDirect.com account, so you can purchase fares from any local transit system. For the purposes of SmartBenefits Personal Accounts, having a SmarTrip card permits us to assign a unique identification number for your SmartBenefits account to access your benefits.
If you only use a transit provider that does not accept SmarTrip cards for payment, such as VRE and MARC, or if you plan to receive all of your fare media (tickets, passes, etc.) through Commuter Direct’s mail order program, do not download your benefits onto your SmarTrip card.
If you will be using your SmartBenefits for multiple modes of transit (such as VRE/MARC and Metrorail/Metrobus), you can allot some of your benefits to a Personal Account (for VRE, MARC, etc.) and download the rest to your SmarTrip card (for use on Metrorail, Metrobus, etc.).
Remember, anything downloaded directly to your SmarTrip card cannot be used on VRE, MARC and other transit agencies that do not use accept SmarTrip cards for fare payment.
| | How Do I Sign Up? |
On the next few pages, we will be asking for some information. First, we will ask you how you will be using your SmartBenefits: in person at a Commuter Store location, creating a new CommuterDirect.com customer account, or adding SmartBenefits to an existing CommuterDirect.com account. Then we will ask you for the information needed to register your SmarTrip card with Metro and set up your SmartBenefits Personal Account.
We will send you an email when your account setup has been completed.
One final note: timing is everything. In order to participate for the following month, your employer needs to have you in Metro’s SmartBenefits system by the 15 th of the month, and, you need to apply for your SmartBenefits Personal Account by the 16th of the month.
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