Say Goodbye to The NYC MetroCard #FeelingFriday

Source: MTA

For those of us who live in New York City, we’ve been using MetroCards to ride the subway system now for 32 years. The MetroCard has become engrained into our daily life, like a lifeline to access the city. But alas it is going away at the end of the year, to make way for the “tap and go” OMNY system that has since been put in place.

OMNY = One Metro New York. Change. Progress.

I do love my progress, but there is something wildly tangible about having a MetroCard that makes you a New Yorker. And whenever my friends would come in town, they too felt like a New Yorker whenever they bought a MetroCard and navigated the (complex) subway system.

Taping your credit card, while certainly infinitely easier, doesn’t give that same level of local satisfaction.

Now I’ve been in New York long enough to remember the subway token as well. When I first came to New York I was in graduate school at Columbia University and we bought 10-packs of tokens for $10 to ride the subway. Talk about tangible, they were fabulous, with their designs evolving through the many years of operations. And if you lost one or two, it wasn’t as much of a hit as losing a fully-loaded MetroCard … or having your MetroCard expire on you! Don’t have to worry about that now with OMNY tap and go!

When the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) in New York moved from the token to The MetroCard, the tokens became instant collector items. I in fact have a necklace made from one of them! I wear it proudly as a life-long New York who has survived the many transitions that the city has gone through.

Any maybe that’s just it … this latest transition of retiring The MetroCard is symbolic to us New Yorkers. It’s another phase in the life of the city. We mourn the loss and the move yet embrace what’s new especially when it’s new technology. That’s what makes us who we are and makes us love our city.

Change. Progress. Technology. User experience. What’s your experience? JIM