Two decades after they replaced subway tokens, the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s MetroCards will be replaced by contactless payment options to ride New York City’s subway and buses.
The cards, used to swipe into subway stations and onto buses, won’t be sold or given out after Dec. 31, the MTA explained in a release Wednesday. Retailers will stop selling the cards sometime in the fall.
Customers will be able to use their extant MetroCards into 2026; the final acceptance date for the cards hasn’t been determined. In lieu of MetroCards, customers will be able to use the OMNY tap-and-go payment system.
Physical OMNY cards can be bought for $1 each at stores, online or in vending machines at certain subway stations. The MTA plans to expand the vending machines systemwide.
MTA riders are encouraged to spend down their MetroCard balances, but the funds on each of the soon-to-be-defunct cards will be available to transfer to OMNY for two years after the expiration date on the MetroCard.
As opposed to MetroCards, where a rider prepays a lump sum worth a set number of trips, OMNY charges per trip taken.
Each year, $40 million of fare funds on weekly and monthly MetroCards go unused, the MTA says. In addition to saving customers those funds, the switch is expected to save the agency at least $20 million annually in MetroCard-related costs.
“Tap-and-go — already the choice for 65% of our riders — is not only easier and more convenient to use; it also opens the door for new discounts and promotions that’ll put money back in riders’ pockets,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said.
MetroCards were introduced in 1993 and replaced subway tokens in 2003.
