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Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Dec. 4 selected Lockheed Martin IMS to provide customer service support for WMATA’s SmarTrip® fare collection program.

SmarTrip cards are plastic, contactless farecards embedded with a computer chip, which keeps track of the card’s value up to a $200 maximum. They are purchased through farecard vending machines, which also enable passengers to add up to $100 per day to the cards.

A passenger must touch the card to a target on the machine to access his or her account, then either insert cash into the machine or select options to pay by credit or debit card. The process is similar to using an ATM to transfer money from one account to another, and enables cards to be rechargeable.

If a card is lost, the passenger must pay a $5 replacement fee, but retains the value on the card at the time it was reported lost.

Under contract terms, IMS would provide account management, and phone and mail-in customer services, including issuing cards through walk-up sales outlets and fulfilling orders placed through mail, telephone or the Internet; register new cards; replace lost or stolen cards; and respond to balance inquiries.

WMATA began its SmarTrip program in May 1999; about 125,000 cards have been issued since.