Photos by the author.

Finding discarded farecards that still have money on them: It’s one of the oldest tricks in any late night Metro rider’s handbook, and for me, it’s been a go-to Metro secret since my undergrad days. I estimate that I’ve foraged over a thousand dollars worth of fares over the last decade.

A friend and I once collected about $100 in discarded paper farecards every day while clipboard canvassing at the Smithsonian Metro station. An average of $100 per year bump to my SmarTrip just for picking up scraps out of the trash? Not bad.

Don’t believe me? Neither did a co-worker when I told him about my little trick of the trade. But as we walked into a station earlier this week, I showed him how it’s done.

A how-to guide

Start by giving a slight glance into the trashcan, like you’re looking for the day’s newspaper. If you spot a farecard resting on top, quickly grab it. To excavate fully, lightly shake the edge of the trash bag to jostle any remaining cards. If liquid appears at any point during either step, immediately cease, since wet farecards are no good.

In this particular case, the bag on the trashcan we approached had just been changed, which is always helpful for spying clean farecards. While we didn’t see any on the surface, I told my co-worker to watch and learn before cautiously pinching the left side of the bag and giving it a gentle tug.

“No luck,” he said, not seeing anything.

“Spoke too soon,” I said as I snatched a farecard that had been crumpled into a small ball.

“No way,” he deadpanned.

I proceeded to flatten the balled-up card by placing it against the fare machine and running the edge of my SmarTrip over it a few times. I then tapped my SmarTrip, pressed “Add Value,” and slid my find into the machine.

“Slink!” $0.55 value added. I tapped my SmarTrip and turned to my friend as we headed toward the faregates.

“The Metro Jedi Force is now with you, my son.”

A dying art

Next year, this trick of the trade will come to a sad but largely unknown and unceremonious end. The elimination of the paper farecard will make it a bit harder for people to throw their money away, meaning that some of Metro’s savviest riders will no longer get their trips subsidized by the trash.

For now, though, those paper farecards are still out there, waiting to be found and traded in.

Later, I received an email from my co-worker with the subject line, “WOW!”

Along with a picture of himself holding three cards, each with values of $1.30, he wrote, “$3.90 pulled out of the SS Metro trash can and added to my SmarTrip card. Thank you teacher.”

If you keep your eyes open, you too could add a few free bucks to your SmarTrip card.