{"id":82820,"date":"2025-12-28T16:22:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T16:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/82820\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T16:22:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T16:22:04","slug":"new-yorks-subway-joins-london-singapore-and-retires-metrocard-and-embraces-tap-and-go-fares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/82820\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s subway joins London, Singapore and retires MetroCard and embraces tap-and-go fares"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the MetroCard replaced the New York City subway token in 1994, the swipeable plastic card infused much-needed modernity into one of the world\u2019s oldest and largest transit systems.<\/p>\n

Now, more than three decades later, the gold-hued fare card and its notoriously finicky magnetic strip are following the token into retirement.<\/p>\n

The last day to buy or refill a MetroCard is December 31, 2025, as the transit system fully transitions to OMNY, a contactless payment system that allows riders to tap their credit card, phone or other smart device to pay fares, much like they do for other everyday purchases.<\/p>\n

Transit officials say more than 90 per cent of subway and bus trips are now paid using the tap-and-go system, introduced in 2019.<\/p>\n

Major cities around the world, including London and Singapore, have long used similar contactless systems. In the US, San Francisco launched a pay-go system earlier this year, joining Chicago and others.<\/p>\n

\"AA collector shows the first MetroCard available to the public dated December 31, 1995. Photo: APMetroCards upended how New Yorkers commute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the MetroCard replaced the New York City subway token in 1994, the swipeable plastic card infused much-needed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5057,128,98,8287,10048,39555,40668,40647,4043,75,12075,9,24,55,54,320,1968,56,19819,8725,16038,15361,2027,40669],"class_list":{"0":"post-82820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bernie-sanders","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-hillary-clinton","13":"tag-jodi-shapiro","14":"tag-law-order","15":"tag-lev-radin","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-manhattan","18":"tag-metrocard","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-city","21":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","22":"tag-new-york-city-news","23":"tag-new-york-mets","24":"tag-new-york-transit-museum","25":"tag-ny","26":"tag-omny","27":"tag-san-francisco","28":"tag-seinfeld","29":"tag-singapore","30":"tag-times-square","31":"tag-wu-tang-clan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}