The Metro in Washington, D.C. has broke tradition and opted not to include any mention of the next president on its Inauguration Day SmarTrip Card.
The omission by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is apparently due to President-elect Donald Trump’s team never authorizing a picture for use before the cards were printed, according to a report in the DCist
WMATA did not explain why his name is not on the card. (RELATED: DC Metro Leader Looks To Trump To Make WMATA Great Again)
“Metro requested permission to use a photo, but received no response from the campaign,” a WMATA spokesperson told DCist. “Due to the long lead time to produce the cards, the new pass commemorates the national celebration of the 58th presidential inauguration.” (RELATED: Here’s The Trump Inaugural Coin Liberals NEVER Thought They’d See)
@MissBeaE Hi, we requested permission to use a photo for the Inauguration SmarTrip card. We did not receive a response from the campaign.
— Metrorail Info (@Metrorailinfo) December 21, 2016
WMATA has opted to just go with the depictions of the American flag and the White House on it.
In 2008 and 2012, WMATA created cards with pictures of Barack Obama for the day of the ceremonies. They even had ones made up in 2012 with a picture of Mitt Romney before he lost the election in November.
Update: Thursday the Boris Epshteyn, Director of Communications for Trump’s inaugural committee, tweeted that they would be working with WMATA to produce a sleeve for the Inaugural day SmarTrip card.
“We’re working closely w/ @WMATA to design a sleeve for @TrumpInaugural SmartTrip cards, similar to what was done for @Pontifex visit to DC!”
We’re working closely w/ @WMATA to design a sleeve for @TrumpInaugural SmartTrip cards, similar to what was done for @Pontifex visit to DC!
— Boris Epshteyn (@BorisEP) December 22, 2016