Metro May Refund Passengers Who Wait 15 Minutes Or More: Report

Metro soon may be refunding passengers who are delayed by 15 minutes or more, an unprecedented move that appears aimed at winning back riders who are abandoning the system in droves, according to a report.

The Washington Post reports that the new program is called the "Rush-Hour Promise," and it would provide full refund credits to anyone riding Metro rail or bus during peak hours who are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

Metro records about 615,000 riders each weekday on average, way down from its peak of 750,000 in 2008, and many customers say they're leaving because of reliability problems that continue to persist despite the culmination of Metro's "SafeTrack" rail improvement effort last year.

The Post cites board documents to be released Monday that note that riders who spend 30 minutes or more than planned in the Metro system are more likely to give up on the service. Metro believes the refund program would cost between $2 million and $3.5 million.

Under the program, rail customers with SmarTrip cards would get refunds automatically to their accounts.