MTA MetroCard

New York's "Hottest Subway Routes" Identified

photo by Angela Pham, Refinery 29​Trendy fashiony site Refinery 29 has uncovered New York City's "Hottest Subway Routes" and is offering eye candy in the form of "36 Saucy Snaps" of attractive peoples discovered riding, waiting for, or frolicking about the trains. As a matter of public service ... More >>

Taken for a Ride: Another MTA Select Bus Horror Story

The MTA's new cash cowThe only thing that's certain about the MTA's Select Bus is that people are being taken for a ride by the setup through which passengers have to buy tickets before boarding. The city has handed out more than $1 million in summonses to riders, so the Select Bus "has increasingly ... More >>

NYC Pickpockets Are On the Endangered Species List

​Guess you can start keeping your wallet in your back pocket again. The Daily News says pickpocketing -- that age-old relic of urban petty crime -- is nearing extinction. Because the only pickpockets left are practically fossils themselves.

MTA's New Select Bus Service Is Not So Speedy, Easy to Scam

​Yesterday, the MTA introduced its new, reportedly speedier "Select Bus Service," in which the M15 buses use exclusive red bus lanes to go between Houston and 125th Street. The biggest change to the system is the "pay before boarding" policy the service uses -- new machines at each stop on the ... More >>

The $104 MetroCard Is Here; Let the Bloodletting Commence

​Well, it happened. We knew it would, but now it's a done deal. The MTA has voted 12 to 2 to approve fare increases for subways, buses, and the commuter rail. Insanely, this marks a 65 percent increase over the last 12 years. The highest inflation rate over the last 10 years, in comparison, ha ... More >>

Subway "Report Card" Reveals that Even the Best Line (the 7) Isn't Worth $2.25 a Ride

​The State of the Subways Fall 2010 "Report Card" (seriously, guys, can we get a new name for this? We're having icky flashbacks) has been handed out by the Straphangers Campaign. And the rankings are intriguing! Did you know that subway riders want "short waits, trains that arrive regularly, ... More >>

Your MTA Overlords Will Charge $104 for Your Glamorous Monthly Subway Commute

​The MTA has been wearing us down with hints and speculation that our monthly unlimited card might increase in cost by almost $20 come January, and today MTA Chairman Jay Walder told Brian Lehrer that the MTA would, indeed, be keeping MetroCards unlimited -- instead of the proposed alternate, ... More >>

MTA Reminds Us, Again, That Our Unlimited MetroCard Could Go Up to $130

​We've heard this again and again. Your MetroCard is going to cost you more -- maybe even $130 -- $41 more than you pay now. In fact, we're starting to suspect that in an effort to numb us to the idea of an increase the MTA is just repeating this over and over and the media is reporting it as ... More >>

Much-Maligned MTA Provides Valuable Service for Rats and the Bladder-Challenged

​Everyone's been criticizing the MTA of late (and always) for upping fares and sketchily trying to make our unlimited MetroCards more expensive and limited. But it turns out you really can't say they never did anything for you. Per amNewYork, the philanthropic MTA has been busy helping out nee ... More >>

MTA May Soon Squeeze Yet More Money Out of You

​We've been through a lot with the MTA. They took away the V and W trains, along with a bunch of buses; they raised a single fare to the price of more than two slices of 2 Bros Pizza; and now, they might make it so you have to pay an extra dollar every time you lose your MetroCard and have to ... More >>

Who's Worse, Con Ed or the MTA?

​Yesterday, a tipster sent us a photo from the Q/B elevator platform at Brooklyn's Atlantic/Pacific subway station, where, due to an electrical outage, it "sucks to be wheelchair-bound." He says, "I think the MTA is taking advantage, however, to pass the blame to Con Ed. Shit is always broken ... More >>

The MTA PayPass Pilot Program Starts Today: Death of Metrocard Forthcoming

​Happy June 1st! If you didn't know, today is the magical day that the New York/New Jersey Port Authority and related transportation organizations with be experimenting with Mastercard's PayPass technology at certain MTA subway stops, buses, and on the NJ Transit. More importantly: in other wo ... More >>

Video: The MTA's PayPass Touch-and-Go Pilot Program in Action

​Earlier today, we brought news of the MetroCard Killer known as PayPass, which is one of those wonderful little technologies much like London's Oystercard service: You touch a card to a sensor, and it lets you through. No more "SWIPE AGAIN" error messages for New Yorkers? Oh yes. And now, the ... More >>

Poll Results: Do You Care About the New York Times/Wall Street Journal Newspaper War?

​It's been a week since the Wall Street Journal launched their much-ballyhooed and long-awaited Greater New York metropolitan section. How is it? Who cares! You always knew it was going to start out as The New York Post for People Too Rich To Be Caught With A Copy Of The New York Post, and wow ... More >>

OK, This "Beamer, Benz, Or Bentley" Parody "Subway, Bus, Or Walking" Is Pretty Well Done

Zach is bound for Mexico (godspeed!), so it falls to me to address this: Nice job, Brandon Carter. I will probably download your mixtape, and maybe even listen to it. Way to call out those very possibly fraudulent candy-sellers, especially. The slide-my-MetroCard thing is a bit tasteless, but ah, ... More >>

Upper White Trash: A Welfare Christmas Miracle!

(Editor's note: This dispatch is from a middle-aged, college-educated Manhattan resident who has given the hell up and gone on welfare. Previously at Runnin' Scared, he described the process of signing up for the dole, the gourmet cuisine he bought with his food stamps, and his frustrations with his ... More >>

Christmas Gets Tougher For NYC's Poor, Post Readers Rejoice

​Santa is not bringing an end to the bad news for the city's poor this Christmas. With a record high number of homeless families, and the city's homeless shelter system for single adults already at 99.6 percent capacity, the Housing Authority is taking back 3,000 already-issued Section 8 vouch ... More >>

BREAKING! Someone Has Relieved Himself in a Subway Station!

​The New York Times doesn't know how to tell you this, but New York City Transit President Howard H. Roberts came to know of an unspeakable act recently performed at the Rector Street subway station. It seems -- brace yourself -- "someone used an entrance to the Rector Street station in Lower ... More >>

Top Marks to 7 Train, Low Marks to C, in Largely Meaningless Subway Survey

The subway nudges of the Straphangers Campaign issued their annual State of the Subways report. The 7 train was their favorite, which in their MetroCard rating system means it's almost worth the price of a pre-fare-hike ride ($1.55); on the GCT-to-Flushing line you're more likely to get a train and ... More >>

MTA Wants Payouts Banned to Riders Who Get Themselves Hurt

The New York Post says "the chronically cash-strapped MTA has become a money train for riders filing personal-injury lawsuits." Personal injury claims against the Authority rose to $57.6 million last year. The Post focuses on cases like that of Dustin Dibble who, while "blotto," fell on the tracks, ... More >>

SCOTUS: Making Up Fake ID That Turns Out to Be Real Not Identity Theft

Ours is an age on ever-increasing criminality -- not that we commit more crimes, but that so many of our actions have been redefined as more serious offenses. Who thinks, for instance, that teens sending naked pictures of themselves to their friends is child pornography? Zealous prosecutors, appare ... More >>

Bent MetroCard Earns 2-Year Prison Sentence

Jonathan Mattocks lost his appeal and will probably go to prison for two years for bending his MetroCard. Apparently creasing the "primary magnetic field" on the card can fool a subway turnstile into giving you a free ride -- the MTA claims eight million such frauds a year, but that sounds like an a ... More >>

MTA Approves Fare Hikes

The train has left the station. Photo (cc) Annie Mole. Well, that's that. Starting May 31: Single fare MetroCards go from $2.00 to $2.50. 7-Days from $25 to $31. 14-Days from $47 to $59. 30-Days from $81 to $103. Norman Seabrook was the only member of the MTA board who voted against it. On the ... More >>

MTA Hearings, Like Subway, Overcrowded with Long Delays

Nearly 100 people remained outside the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fare hike hearing in Manhattan almost an hour after it began on Wednesday evening, their wait caused by stepped-up security measures and what appeared to be the authority's failure to anticipate the crowd. "We've recentl ... More >>

Subway Fare Going Up To As Much As $3

MTA Reminds Us of the Days Before They Went Totally Broke

Last NY Transit Bargains: Roosevelt, Staten Islands

MTA Bigwig Likes His Perks

Brooklynites Rail Against Proposed MTA Fare Hike

It's Your Chance To Say No to a MTA Fare Hike

Breaking the Code?

Off-Off Broadway seeks new Equity showcase rules

MTA Gets Set to Raise Fares

Ranking Your Subway Ride

Get Your Wardrobe On

The fashion industry is obsessed with green—the color of military uniforms, army fatigues, and the scads of money it will cost you to buy next fall's designs

Big Crackdown on Little Crime

Bloomberg out-Rudys Rudy when it comes to the NYPD's "quality of life" enforcement

Strike's Over: What About My MetroCard?

2003

Exit Strategy

When it comes to subways and terrorism, the best defense might be a good escape

Not Blink-183

Brooklyn trio who knows Carson jumps pop-punk's turnstile

Paradise Regained

Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us

Music

Mixed Signals

City Promises No Driverless Trains, but Sets Track for Automatic Subway

The $390 Million MetroCard

Inside New York’s Megabuck Lovefest With Automation

Guided by Vices

Dylan Baker Scares People

Spycam City

The Surveillance Society: Part One