Out With The Old, In With The New

New York City has finally rolled out contactless payments for subway and buses.

Hideously garish in its blue and yellow splendour with a clipped corner like an expired passport.
Hideously garish in its blue and yellow splendour with a clipped corner like an expired passport.
  • A most delightful photo of Antony Holmes
Antony Holmes
4 min read

Since 1994, New York City has been using MetroCard, its unofficial yellow and blue flimsy sort of paper, sort of plastic mascot, as the payment system for subways, buses, and cable cars. At the start of 2026 it was retired in favor of OMNY, a contactless digital payment system very similar to Oyster that is used in London. I, for one, do not lament its passing.

MetroCard required commuters to swipe a card through a magnetic stripe reader. I got quite adept at this and could swipe and walk through a turnstile without stopping. But the readers were frequently prone to getting dirty and misreading cards, and the system was essentially out-of-date less than 10 years after it launched when Oyster demonstrated that a tap to enter system could work effectively on a large transit system in 2003. The fact it took more than 20 years for the MTA to adopt something similar is lamentable, but at least they eventually did.

I switched to OMNY 2 years ago when the pilot program rolled out widely enough that I could use it daily. I never looked back. Technologically, MetroCard was horrible and visually it was hideous with blue 1990s Microsoft WordArt slanted text on a yellow background. People say it was iconic. It was in a way, but only for its ubiquity and longevity. The design always seem amateurish to me; something an intern could throw together in PowerPoint over an afternoon.

The naysayers have been kicking up a stink about OMNY is somehow being worse, but a digital system is much more convenient:

  • Able to check balance at home without having to go a station to find a MetroCard reader.
  • Don’t have to find a MetroCard machine to refill card (these were frequently out of service).
  • Can immediately cancel lost card and transfer balance to a new one; no-more having to file claims with the MTA.
  • Can connect multiple payment sources to an account.
  • Easier to share transit benefits with spouse/partner. Register a transit debit card with two OMNY cards so no more having to share a card.

Amongst the grumblings about MetroCard being better, the only legitimate point I can see people having is that OMNY currently lacks a monthly unlimited option, but that is not unique to MetroCard and could be implemented in OMNY. OMNY somewhat mitigates this by applying a weekly cap to travel costs so in a typical 30 day period, the cost of travel is comparable to what a commuter would typically spend on an unlimited card. Yes, a 30 day card could be a little cheaper, but it will probably be a bit of a wash.

So, farewell MetroCard, you were better than tokens and you filled a void until a better system came along, but like a delicious slice of New York pizza that has been sitting in the fridge for slightly too long, it’s time to go.

Do you use OMNY? What do you like/dislike about it?