NYC's MetroCards Are on Their Way Out: 'It Is Time'

New York's familiar yellow-and-blue MetroCard is about to join the subway token in the city's transit graveyard. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will stop selling the plastic fare cards on Dec. 31 after more than three decades, as it fully pivots to its tap-and-pay OMNY system. Riders will still be able to use any remaining MetroCards for a while into 2026, but the agency is making clear that the future is contactless, per amNY. "After 32 years, it's time to say goodbye to the MetroCard and go all in on the fare payment system of the future," says MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, who has pitched OMNY as both simpler to use and more flexible for discounts and promotions.

• History: The MetroCard, first introduced in 1994, replaced the metal token that had been in circulation since 1953. The card's development dates back to 1983, when then-MTA Chair Richard Ravitch pushed for magnetically encoded "stored-value" cards and new turnstiles for this innovative "automatic fare collection" tech. Those changes enabled transfers between subway and bus on a single fare, and later, with "MetroCard Gold" in 1997, unlimited-ride seven- and 30-day passes.

• Current day: More than 3 billion MetroCards have been encoded since. The New York Times notes that the vast majority of trips taken in NYC subways are already paid for using the OMNY system; only about 6% of trips are taken courtesy of a MetroCard. "I feel the love, and I feel the heartache of the transition," says the MTA's Shanifah Rieara. "But it is time."
• Famous flubs: The card has long since found its way into city lore: Everyone from actor Kyle MacLachlan to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been filmed having trouble swiping their cards to get into the subway system.
• Elder ire: One demographic that isn't as keen on the switch: older New Yorkers, per Gothamist. "I don't want a card linked to my checking account or linked to my credit card that can possibly be lost or stolen and my account drained," an 86-year-old local complained.
• An exhibit: At the New York Transit Museum, which is hosting a "FAREwell" exhibit honoring the MetroCard, curator Jodi Shapiro says many riders are already treating its phaseout as a loss. Meanwhile, the New York Post has more on Cardvaark, the MetroCard mascot that never was but who's now represented at the museum's exhibit as a large cardboard cutout that people can take selfies with.