

(Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post)

Yes, we admit it. We have a soft spot for paper.

And so it is with a heavy heart that we report that the last two Metro stations that sell paper fare cards will no longer do so as of Thursday. The end comes one month ahead of schedule.

[It’s curtains for Metro’s paper fare card]

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel assures us this is all for the best. The transit agency will save money on maintaining the Rube Goldberg-style mechanics involved in pulling those paper cards in at the fare gates and spitting them back out. Metro has slowly been trying to wean riders off the paper cards, charging those who insist on “legacy fare payment” an extra $1 per trip.

As Adam McGavock, Metro’s sales director told The Post’s Paul Duggan last year:

While more than 90 percent of Metro passengers use SmarTrip cards these days, he says, fare machines still dispense about 2 million paper cards each month, which cumulatively take a toll on the gates. Although the gates were manufactured at different times, he says, all were made with the same 1960s technology.

Stessel said the shift to SmarTrip also will mean a speedier entry and exit process.

Still, for those of you who have a few of the paper cards laying about, don’t worry.

“There is no need to panic,” Stessel said. “The cards can be used until the beginning of March.”

[Metro explains how to trade in those paper fare cards]

If you’d like to transfer the balance on those cards to your SmarTrip card, Metro has tried to make that easy. You can take the paper cards to a station, feed them into one of the brown refrigerator-sized farecard dispensers and add the balance to your SmarTrip card. You also can go to a Metro sales office. Note: Only undamaged paper fare cards can be traded via the brown machines.

And if you’re just feeling nostalgic, you can head over to Naylor Road or Anacostia, the last two Metro stations that were selling paper cards as of this afternoon.

Here’s Metro’s video on the phasing out of paper fare cards.