While a number of other U.S. cities’ mass transit systems have already moved beyond plastic swipe cards and now use fobs or other smart keys, New York City with more than 450 subway stops, nearly 250 miles of track, and around 600 buses, has not made that next-gen leap. But now the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will finally begin to phase out the use of MetroCards over the coming years. [More]
metrocard
Card Skimmer Discovered On Payment Kiosk In NYC Subway
By 4.11.14
Whenever I’m in New York City and load up a MetroCard at the train station kiosk, I give the card readers extra scrutiny and think to myself, “such a high-volume spot would be a great place to install a skimmer.” My paranoia was justified: earlier this week, the Metropolitan Transit Authority warned the public that they’ve found card skimmers on a few of those very kiosks. [More]
Are Unlimited Ride MetroCards A Good Deal? Not For A Lot Of People Who Use Them
By 7.16.08
The New York Times had an article today about the 10 year anniversary of the unlimited MetroCard and how it has transformed way people use the subway. They even included a graph that showed how many times people are using their cards in a month. What they didn’t mention is that a lot of people are buying the card and not hitting the “break even” point of 46 rides per month. Hmm.
