Overview
Southern Maine Community College and Metro have partnered allowing SMCC students to ride the Metro bus system for free. You must be a student of SMCC to ride the bus for free.
You must have a new student ID card - one's available after September 1, 2021 - in order for this to work.
Solution
If your card is not working with Metro verify the following:
- Are you using a new card? One way to determine if you are using a new card with the new RFID technology is by verifying that you DON'T have the circled word "Expirati" on the upper left hand corner on the front of the card. If you have the circled word "Expirati" on the upper left hand corner on the front of the card, you have an old card. Obtain a new student ID card from SMCC Security.
- OLD card has the circled word "Expirati" on the upper left hand corner on the front of the card
- NEW card does not have any circled items on the front of the card
- Timing is crucial. We submit new card information to Metro twice a day - 3:05pm and 5:05am. Upon receiving the new card information from SMCC, Metro automatically activates the card. So, if you obtained a card from SMCC Security prior to those times, please wait for our data transfer to be performed.
- Example: Jane receives her new student ID card at 9:15am, her card will not work on Metro. SMCC automatically sends the information on new cards at 3:05pm. Within a few minutes, Janes new student ID card is working on Metro.
- Example: John receives his card at 6:15pm - the Security office business hours are 7:00am to 7:00pm - and his card will not work until shortly after 5:05am