Metro celebrates expansion of Tap. Ride. Go. at parking facilities with College Park-U of Md event

Metro continues the rollout of Tap. Ride. Go. technology at parking facilities, with the College Park-U of Md station now equipped to accept contactless payments as part of a phased, systemwide expansion that began in March.

“Expanding Tap. Ride. Go. to our parking facilities is about making every part of the trip easier for customers,” said Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke. “From tapping to ride to tapping to park, we’re building a faster, more flexible experience across the system.”

Metro marked the occasion by bringing together local leaders and stakeholders, including Mayor Fazlul Kabir, City Council Members Jacob Hernandez and Alan Hew, and the University of Maryland’s beloved mascot Testudo, to highlight this new feature at the station just minutes away from the University’s campus.

"College Park is a leader in innovation, so we are thrilled to have the new Tap. Ride. Go. here at the College Park-U of Md station,” said City of College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir. “This easy contactless payment system will help our residents get where they need to go faster and more efficiently than ever before."

As the project moves forward across the service area, Metro is updating an online tracker that highlights which parking facilities have been outfitted with Tap. Ride. Go. technology. The tracker is updated regularly as additional parking facilities are activated.

Tap. Ride. Go. allows customers to pay by tapping a contactless credit or debit card, smartphone, or payment-enabled device – in addition to Smart Trip cards – on buses, at stations, and now, at participating parking facilities.

Customers who use a Smart Trip card, physical or mobile, to access Metro Rail will continue to be automatically recognized for applicable parking benefits. As Tap. Ride. Go. is deployed at parking facilities, Metro’s systems will be configured to ensure rail customer and non-rail customer parking transactions are processed accurately and consistently.

Metro is upgrading parking equipment, software, and fare systems through a phased rollout that allows testing and refinement before expansion to additional locations.

Customers will see updated signage at participating stations and can visit wmata.com/tapridego to learn more.

About Metro

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), known as Metro, is the region’s leading public transportation provider, serving a population of approximately four million people across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia within a 2,054-square-mile jurisdiction. With a network of six rail lines, 98 stations, 126 bus routes, and a door-to-door paratransit service, Metro is the second busiest transit system in the United States serving 268.9 million trips in 2025 with a $5 billion operating and capital budget. Since 2022, Metro has completed multiple transit-oriented development projects that have brought $15 million in tax revenue to the region from housing, office, and retail space in our community. Safety and security are core values at Metro. Over 30,000 cameras monitor the system, and Metro currently has the lowest crime rate in history with fare evasion down 82% on rail. In 2025, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) named Metro the Transit Agency of the Year in recognition of industry-leading ridership growth, record high customer satisfaction, a newly redesigned Bus network, expanded rail service, and improved customer experience.