The yellow magnetic fare card, the MetroCard, which symbolized New York public transit, will end sales on the 31st and bow out after 32 years. Debuting in 1994 as a flashy replacement for heavy metal tokens, the MetroCard is set to disappear into history as smartphones and a contactless payment system take its place. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs New York public transit, confirmed a full digital transition, removing the magnetic system that is costly to maintain—running into tens of billions of won annually—and prone to breakdowns.
According to the MTA and foreign media on the 29th (local time), New York City will stop selling and refilling MetroCards at all station vending machines and booths at the end of this year. Starting next year, OMNY, a contactless payment system, will be the only payment method. MetroCards already loaded with value can be used through the first half of next year. New issuances and additional reloads will be restricted.
When the New York subway opened in 1904, it used paper tickets. In 1953, it switched to a metal token system. The tokens were heavy and easy to lose. They were also highly vulnerable to counterfeiting. Taking this into account, the transit authority first introduced the MetroCard in Jan. 1994. The card used a method that stored cash as digital data by attaching a magnetic stripe to the back of a lightweight plastic card. AP said it was considered "the most advanced technology among transit systems worldwide at the time."
The MetroCard was not popular at first. As of 1996, only 8% of all New York subway riders used the MetroCard. Most New Yorkers stuck with the familiar token. The turning point came in 1997 with the introduction of free transfers. The MetroCard provided the technical foundation that enabled free transfers between the subway and buses. After that, the MetroCard became a must-have in New Yorkers' wallets, with more than 3.2 billion cards issued over more than 30 years.
The seemingly eternal era of the MetroCard ran into technical limits and expense issues after the 2010s. The magnetic stripe was vulnerable to external interference, leading to frequent data loss. The inconvenience of having to swipe multiple times at the turnstile became a daily routine for New Yorkers. According to MTA statistics, passenger delays caused by magnetic read errors were cited as one of the main causes of subway congestion. The upkeep of physical ticket vending machines was also a problem. Mechanical parts in the vending machines frequently failed, and the process of collecting and reconciling cash consumed massive labor and logistics expense.
The MTA expects the MetroCard phaseout to save at least $20 million (about 29 billion won) in annual operating expense. The figure includes the expense of producing paper and plastic fare media, vending machine repairs, and cash handling expense. In a notice, MTA Chair Janno Lieber said, "Now is the time to bid farewell to the MetroCard, which faithfully served for 32 years, and fully transition to the payment system of the future," adding, "We will open a new era with a faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective system."
As of December this year, the share of contactless payments among New York subway and bus riders surpassed 90%, according to the MTA. Now nine out of ten people tap a credit card or smartphone at the turnstile instead of swiping a magnetic card. Contactless payments also hovered in the 60% range when first introduced in 2019. Usage then surged through vending machine replacements and outreach. The MTA said a fare cap that automatically provides free rides after 12 trips in a week played a decisive role in spreading contactless payments.
For more than 30 years, the MetroCard has served as a powerful cultural symbol of New York. Its distinctive bright yellow background and blue logo were a steady seller in the city's souvenir market. The yellow card appeared frequently across countless screen works set in New York, such as the movie "The Amazing Spider-Man" and the drama "Sex and the City." Ahead of the MetroCard's exit this month, the MTA is commemorating the farewell by releasing collaborative memorabilia with famous New York eateries. The MTA said, "For the past 30 years, New Yorkers have embraced the MetroCard as more than just a fare card—part of the city's culture," adding, "Contactless payments will add convenience, but the symbolism of the MetroCard will be preserved forever through exhibits at the Transit Museum and more."
The trend of eliminating costly physical media and shifting to contactless payment systems is appearing in major cities worldwide. Paris in France also ended sales this year of the paper ticket "carnet," which had a 100-year history. Singapore likewise shut down its legacy transit card system in June last year and unified around an account-based payment system. London is cited as a success case that introduced contactless payments citywide earlier than anywhere else and dramatically reduced operating expense.
The Trump administration also sent a positive signal for modernizing transit infrastructure in major cities. The U.S. administration plans to support standardization of payment systems at the federal level while pursuing policies that expand access to digital finance. Experts said this is part of a multifaceted urban development strategy to maximize the use of transit data to boost dispatch efficiency and improve overall mobility.
Concerns about the digitally excluded remain. Low-income riders who do not have smartphones or have difficulty opening bank accounts, and riders who use only cash, are being left out of contactless payments. To address this, New York City has allowed the purchase with cash of rechargeable contactless transit cards at more than 4,000 retailers, including convenience stores and pharmacies. It also said it will deploy mobile counseling booths at major stations to minimize confusion by allowing riders to transfer or receive refunds of remaining balances on existing MetroCards to other contactless cards through 2026.
Experts predicted that if the MTA secures about 27 billion won in surplus annually through this transition, more funds will be available for repairing aging subway facilities and expanding the deployment of safety personnel. At the same time, as contactless payments shorten turnstile processing times, peak-hour crowding is expected to ease by more than 15%.
Citing experts, AP said, "Going forward, the New York subway will serve as a forward base for realizing a 'wallet-free city,'" adding, "The rollout of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based operating system that analyzes user ridership data in real time to concentrate trains on high-demand lines is also expected to pick up speed."