The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority will add rear-door SmarTrip card readers on 450 buses as part of improving fareboxes, the agency announced at a board meeting Thursday.

The rear readers, which let riders board at either set of bus doors, will reduce the amount of dwell time a bus spends loading and unloading riders.

As for the readers up front, current fareboxes are 20 years old, WMATA Vice President of Planning Allison Davis explained, and the improved boxes will allow for faster taps and fewer errors.

The rollout will be monitored to ensure that the initiative does not make fare evasion worse. The impact it has on those with strollers or physical disabilities also will be evaluated.

Other U.S. cities have implemented all-door boarding and reduced dwell time.

A location and time for debuting all-door boarding in the District of Columbia have not been determined.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.