New Washington D.C. ID Card Will Cover All District Services

The District is rolling out an ambitious identification program this summer in what it calls a first-of-its-kind effort by a major U.S. city to unify services on one ID card. With the One Card, library accounts, public school attendance, recreation-center use and other services will be tracked on a single piece of plastic. Metro riders can have a SmarTrip chip implanted in the card. "The eventual goal is that you'd need only one card across the entire District government," said Vivek Kundra, the city's chief technology officer. Over the next three months, public libraries will begin issuing the One Card. In the fall, public school students and D.C. government employees will receive the cards as IDs. By 2010, the Department of Parks and Recreation, which has begun issuing the cards, will require the ID for using park facilities, Kundra said. Other services, including DC Healthcare Alliance, plan to use the card. The card will be mandatory for D.C. students and government workers, but other residents can choose not to apply for the card.