“After 32 years, it’s time to say goodbye to the MetroCard and go all in on the fare payment system of the future,” said MTA chief executive officer Janno Lieber in a March statement announcing the transition. He noted at the time that tap-and-go is already the payment of choice for roughly two-thirds of the system’s riders.
(Dec 30): The MetroCard — a blue-and-yellow pass that for more than three decades let riders into New York’s vast subway network with a swipe — will be retired on Wednesday, replaced by the already popular tap-and-go payment system.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) introduced the MetroCard in 1994, bringing what was then modern, magnetic-strip technology to turnstiles that had previously allowed passengers to enter by dropping coin-like tokens that dated back to the 1950s. Prior to that, the subway accepted coins, beginning with a nickel when the system first opened at the turn of the 20th century.
