Metro to stop accepting paper fare cards starting Sunday

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Metro says the fare gates at its rail stations will soon stop accepting paper fare cards.

Metro officials said in a statement that as of Sunday, passengers will have to use plastic SmarTrip cards.

Metro says that customers with paper fare cards can transfer the value to a SmarTrip card by using certain vending machines at rail stations. Metro says that vending machines have been dispensing only the SmarTrip cards since December and that paper fare cards account for less than half a percent of all rail transactions.

Metro says customers can transfer any value from the paper cards to SmarTrip cards through June 30.