Farewell to the Metrocard

By: Mabel Proulx, Class III

Photo credit: Pexels

This October the MTA announced they were retiring the Metrocard and fully replacing it with the OMNY-card by December 31st. Transit riders will still be able to swipe their card, but as of this deadline Metrocards cannot be bought or reloaded with money. With this dismissal, many New Yorkers have voiced both their support and frustration to the MTA. Regardless of public opinion, it seems that OMNY will become the main fare for the subway.

 First launched in 2019, OMNY was introduced as an alternative to the Metrocard. Since then, the MTA has been slowly introducing the card and its loading stations to more of the public transit system. According to the MTA, they are planning to save $20 million on Metrocard related costs and distribution efforts through OMNY, and that there is "a robust OMNY retail network currently at 2,700 locations — more than double the MetroCard partnering locations.”

The Metrocard was introduced in the early 1990s as an alternative to the token system that had been used since the NYC subway system was first created in 1904. At that time, a token was used instead of a card, which you could insert to pass the gate and buy from stations in the system. The Metrocard was introduced because as the price of the fare increased, it became difficult to insert the required amount of coins into machines used to less. The use of the token stopped completely in 2003 as the Metrocard was ushered in. It was promoted by the MTA through the featuring of special edition Metrocards, with pictures of famous rappers, singers and other New York icons on the back.

While the Metrocard has become an iconic symbol of New York, some are glad to see it go. The metrocard has been infamous for its difficulty to swipe through the turnstiles, and others find it much easier to tap the OMNY card and see their metrocard balance right on screen. “It’s a lot easier to tap and pay with the OMNY card.” Class III discip Beatrice Luna says about the introduction of systems like Apple Pay and Credit cards into the transit system. “I feel like it is faster to tap and go rather than have to wait for the machine to process.”

However, there are many people who are upset with the MTA’s decision to end the Metro card. “It really seems unnecessary,” Class III discip Alex Bergen shared, “I feel like it's just going to create a lot of waste and also a need to update all of the turnstiles and everything in the MTA.” When looking at the numbers, the MTA has spent more than $645 million in total on installing OMNY systems and turnstiles, and it is still billions of dollars in debt. “It really seems like they're just trying to go for the future without thinking about the people,” Bergen continued, “they're saying it's going to be better, it's going to be cheaper…they can spend more money on fixing the subway system. 
But they've been saying that for everything and they haven't done anything to fix it.” 

The MTA’s farewell to the Metrocard campaign that ran from late October through to December partnered with many New York businesses to send off the Metrocard. The MTA has introduced this as a “months-long event” that is “both a tribute and a transition, as we celebrate the MetroCard while fully moving to our contactless tap-and-ride fare payment system.” It features collaborations with food places like Gong cha, Carvel and Golden Crust as well social media posts and subway-wide PSAs featuring Cardi B to let New Yorkers know about the end of the Metrocard.

The metrocard has been a longstanding element, and with its dismissal comes many opposing views. Perhaps we will never be ready to let the Metrocard go, but an exhibit about it in the New York City Transit Museum suggests that though lost, the metrocard will not be forgotten.