What is Up with SmartBenefits and SmarTrip?

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The hilarious screengrab above is from Marc. It reads "[SmarTrip] Account Activation Completed/Account Activation Failed/Your account activation process has been failed ..."

There have been several reports of problems/wackiness with SmartBenefits and SmarTrip cards.

From Ashley:

I recently tried to add SmartBenefits to my SmarTrip card, and my transaction was cancelled. I tried twice, and gave up. I called the benefits provider to find that everything should have been fine. Then, I called WMATA. The person at WMATA said, “Oh, it’s near the first of the month. Adding your SmartBenefits should take you about five transaction tries before it will load your card. There is a high demand right now. Just keep trying, and it should work.”

I did not see that on the WMATA FAQ web page.

Twitter @vnangia said:

"Trying to get Smartbenefits is causing errors at all station. Dunn Loring manager says no more SB loading at machines now"

And even the pilot programs are screwy. From Adam:

I'm taking part in the SmarTrip bus pass beta test ... so far they're off to a good start, pass implementation has already been delayed a week! :-)

What else is going on out there with SmartBenefits and SmarTrip?