The city's new municipal ID card program is officially up and running.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the bill creating the card last summer.
The free IDNYC card is available to all New Yorkers 14 years of age and older, no matter what their immigration status is.
It's meant to give people access to city services even if their immigration papers are not in order.
But to make sure the cards are more broadly adopted by New Yorkers there are other benefits. It will also double as a library card, and gives cardholders a free one-year membership at many zoos and museums around the five boroughs.
Speaking to reports Monday, the mayor said the card is affirmation that everyone in the city is respected.
"We are a city where a lot of people come here from all over the world, all over the country. So there is a transient dynamic, which means it's harder for people to get an ID quickly. We recognize that anytime a person has an ID - I don't care if they happen to be an American citizen or they happen not to be - it's good to have ID. It makes everything simpler in life," De Blasio said. "How many times do you go into a building nowadays and you're asked to show an ID? How many times you want to do any kind of business transaction, you need an ID? But it's amazing how many people don't have a picture ID. So part of this policy was to correct something and improve the quality of life of people across the board."
For more information about the program, visit nyc.gov.