The token took its last drop in 2003, but the pesky MetroCard still has some life left in it, and there are lessons to be learned from other cities that changed how their riders pay to move around on mass transit. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.
London's transit system has the Oyster card. In San Francisco, there's the Clipper. And in Oslo, there's the RuterBillet mobile ticketing app.
All offer more advanced ways to pay the fare than the MetroCard and don't require the swipe or dip known to those relying on the now-nearly-25-year-old replacement for the token.
"It's a modern world. So that will determine, you know, whether this city really moves ahead. Not just from 1993 technology to 2003, but 2023 technology," said David Bragdon, executive director of Transit Center.
On Thursday night, officials from transit agencies in those cities gathered at Transit Center in Lower Manhattan to discuss how switching to new fare payment technologies has improved the commute.
The MTA plans to begin rolling out the MetroCard's replacement by 2018, allowing riders to pay fares by mobile device or with cards that can more quickly get them onto trains or buses.
"MTA was looking at starting a new fare payment plan in 2020. The governor challenged us to accelerate that timeline, and now, we are looking at a new fare payment plan in a couple of years," said MTA spokesperson Beth DeFalco.
London's tap-and-go Oyster Card arrived in 2003, and in 2014, riders could also begin using contactless payment cards.
"There's not such a risk, I think, for those cities that are following to make that investment. Because the evidence is there," said Matthew Hudson, head of business development at Transport for London. "People want to use this method of payment. They want the convenience."
Unlike the MetroCard, riders can use those payment methods on more than the subways and buses.
"We can use it on the Tube system, on the light railway, on the buses, even on our national rail network in London," said Christian Fjaer, payment solutions officer with Ruter.
Oslo's Ruter, in 2012, debuted a mobile ticketing app for its riders, something the MTA has only recently developed for its commuter railroads, but not the buses or subways.
"It's available for them whenever they want it, wherever they want it," Fjaer said.
Last spring, the MTA began accepting bids for the MetroCard's replacement, which could also allow bus and subway riders to link to the commuter railroads.
Moving away from the MetroCard won't come cheap, though. Hudson estimates that Transport for London spent more than $150 million to switch how its riders pay to get around. Something that, for now, still costs $2.75.