page_title: MetroCard
section_title: Technology
hierarchical_section_title: MetroCard / Technology
caption_attribution_description: English: Example of a Select Bus Service shelter used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York). Note that the MetroCard payment center is in the foreground, and that customers needing to use coins pay in the coin fare collector in the background, behind the ad panel. Fare is not sold at Select Bus Service shelters.
context_page_description: The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway; New York City Transit buses, including routes operated by Academy Bus under contract to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and MTA buses; Nassau Inter-County Express systems; the PATH train system; the Roosevelt Island Tramway; AirTrain JFK; and Westchester County's Bee-Line Bus System.
  The card was introduced in 1992 to enhance the technology of the transit system and eliminate the burden of carrying and collecting tokens. The MTA discontinued the use of tokens in the subway on May 3, 2003, and on buses on December 31, 2003. The MetroCard is expected to be phased out by 2023. It will be replaced by OMNY, a contactless payment system where riders pay for their fare by waving or tapping credit or debit bank cards, smartphones, or MTA-issued contactless smart cards.
  The MetroCard is managed by a division of the MTA known as Revenue Control, MetroCard Sales, which is part of the Office of the Executive Vice President. The MetroCard Vending Machines are manufactured by Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc.
context_section_description: During a swipe, the MetroCard is read, re-written to, then check-read to verify correct encoding.
  Each MetroCard stored value card is assigned a unique, permanent ten-digit serial number when it is manufactured. The value is stored magnetically on the card itself, while the card's transaction history is held centrally in the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) Database. When a card is purchased and fares are loaded onto it, the MetroCard Vending Machine or station agent's computer stores the amount of the purchase onto the card and updates the database, identifying the card by its serial number. Whenever the card is swiped at a turnstile, the value of the card is read, the new value is written, the customer is let through, and then the central database is updated with the new transaction as soon as possible. Cards are not validated in real time against the database when swiped to pay the fare. The AFC Database is necessary to maintain transaction records to track a card if needed. It has actually been used to acquit criminal suspects by placing them away from the scene of a crime. The database also stores a list of MetroCards that have been invalidated for various reasons (such as lost or stolen student or unlimited monthly cards), and it distributes the list to turnstiles in order to deny access to a revoked card.
  The older blue MetroCards were not capable of the many kinds of fare options that the gold ones currently offer. The format of the magnetic stripe used by the blue MetroCard offered very little other than the standard pay-per-swipe fare. Also, gold MetroCards allow groups of people (up to four) to ride together using a single pay-per-swipe MetroCard. The gold MetroCard keeps track of the number of swipes at a location in order to allow those same number of people to transfer at a subsequent location, if applicable. The MetroCard system was designed to ensure backward compatibility, which allowed a smooth transition from the blue format to gold.
  Cubic later used the proprietary MetroCard platform to create the Chicago Card and Tren Urbano's fare card, which are physically identical to the MetroCard except for the labeling.
caption: Select Bus Service pay shelter for pre-payment of fare before boarding Select Bus Service buses.
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