Here lies the emaciated carcass of the New York MetroCard. Its jaundiced face and fraying edges were all telltale signs that its time had come. But don’t be fooled by its stiff, flimsy visage; this was not a natural offing.
This was a premeditated, unaliving, one deliberated, telegraphed, and executed by a city with a long history of nickel-and-diming.
What was the cause of death, you might ask? The slow demise began in 2019 with the introduction of OMNY (One Metro New York), the refillable card whose name implies the same kind of ubiquitous, unified sameness as Apple’s iPhone.
All those other forms of payment will go the way of the Razr, the Sidekick, the flip phone, and even the rotary. And while OMNY’s arrival initially set off alarm bells among the poor, the city was quick to clarify that the card is refillable with cash. Customers can load it at local stores and pharmacies, and it doesn’t require a phone.
The only real cash grab visible on the other side of the MetroCard’s demise is that the transit authority immediately bumped fares to $3.00 the moment the old girl was phased out, with no guarantee the service would actually get any better.
Which would almost be fine if the MTA hadn’t also claimed that OMNY adoption would save the city $20 million a year, thanks to reduced production and distribution costs. The question moving forward is one New Yorkers, and plenty of other American cities, can ask of their governments: Where will all that money be going?
But with those unanswered questions floating in the political ether, it’s also a great time to look back at the beautiful capabilities of the MetroCard. With sameness comes the loss of specialization and individuality, in this case, those dope special-edition MetroCards the city released in celebration, memoriam, and self-referential charm.
Peep the David Bowie card, the Yankees card, or the one emblazoned with the iconography of the Notorious One. There were collaborations with millennial heartthrobs like Vampire Weekend, New York staples like the Bronx Zoo, and Instagram creatives like New York Nico and Subway Takes.
Can any of us imagine that same kind of vibrancy from OMNY? Has the iPhone’s design really evolved since its inception?
Aside from the financial machinations of a change like this, what’s truly lost, for me, is the physical material of the thing, the ability for the city to give life to its fundamental components and spark a small pinch of joy when times get gloomy.
I’d be shocked if OMNY, for all its technological advancement and convenience, has that kind of power. So, we commemorate the MetroCard, born in 1994 and taken from us in the year of the bored, 2026. Long live the MetroCard.
Photo Credit: DepositPhotos.com
