Metrocards, 1993 – 2026

New York’s MTA has just announced that it will discontinue the hugely annoying Metrocard next year in favor of an even worse idea: you will have to use either OMNY cards (what the hell even are those?), your Smartphone (a lot of people don’t have Smartphones), or your credit card (which will be plucked from your hands by some goniff as you’re trying to swipe it). Why were subway tokens ever discontinued? They were perfect: they were recyclable, they always worked (no “please swipe again”), you knew how many rides you had left (five tokens? five rides!), you could give them to friends or befuddled tourists . . . I say, if the MTA is getting rid of Metrocards (and good riddance), go back to subway tokens!