Photo: Jay Wescott

WTOP reporter Adam Tuss has been tweeting from this morning's meeting on finance and customer service at Metro headquarters. So far, it hasn't been encouraging.

Metro says they could lose up to $1 million a year if riders try to cheat the system by purchasing $2.50 SmarTrip cards then ditching them after more expensive rides. (We're still skeptical.) But there may be worse problems on the horizon. According to Tuss, board chairman Peter Benjamin "revealed that the number of smartrip cards may run out soon -- manufacturer might stop producing them." He also says the actual cost of manufacturing a SmarTrip card is greater than previously believed, "about 3 dollars and change."

Tuss quotes Jim Graham calling the situation "an embarassment" and saying "with every passing moment this looks worse." Yikes.

Head over to @atuss for more as it develops.