DC Metro needs to update systems

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I travel to Washington, D.C. often enough that I keep afarecard for the Metro handy so I can get off the plane at Reagan National,walk to the Metro, and be whisked to my destination. On my most recent trip, aminor malfunction revealed gaps in Metro’s systems as well as in its customerservice.
After my plane landed, I grabbed my carry-on and headedstraight for the train. With a 10:00 p.m. arrival on a Saturday night, I didn’twant to waste any time getting to my hotel near the District’s ChinaTownarea.  But my card failed to open thegate and when the station manager checked, he said it had somehow become demagnetized.
He also told me a Customer Service center could exchange thecard for me when they opened on Monday, then provided me a pass to mydestination rather than make me buy a fare or fare card. Excellent servicethere.
However, the agent at the Customer Service desk on Mondaywas less helpful. When I presented her with my dead card, she confirmed thestation manager’s assessment, and asked if I had 45 cents to round the balanceof $19.55 up to an even $20. When I handed her a $20 bill – the smallest I had– she said she had no change. That was the first indication of poor service.
She suggested I could get change, or she could give me $19worth of cards. In the moment, giving up 55 cents to save the hassle of findingchange seemed a fair exchange. Soon, though, it became obvious that I shouldhave taken the time and trouble.
What the agent gave me was not a single card with $19 crediton it; she gave me a $10 farecard, a $5 farecard, and a $4 farecard.
That is significant because, while riders can effectivelyreload a farecard when its balance gets low, the only way to combine cards isto buy an electronic SmarTrip®fare card ($10 includes a $5 card fee plus $5 in fare) and load the balancesfrom the farecards on to it. So unless I decide to buy such a card on my nexttrip to D.C., I’m stuck with three cards instead of one.
That means I’ll eventually have to choose between threeoptions: keep all three cards and use them in rotation (which is annoying andseems pointless), lose even more money when balances on two of my three cardsget too low to pay for a fare, or spend $10 for the electronic SmarTrip® card.
The customer service rep should have told me she wasgoing to give me three fare cards and given me the option of going for change,knowing that the three cards can’t be combined. Her manager should haveensured that she had some change (there are still those of us who carry cashfor small purchases), and Metro should fix its system so that multiplefarecards can be combined. 

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