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The MetroCard is becoming a museum piece in 'FAREwell' exhibit
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Dec 5, 2025
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The Transit Museum
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Dec 5, 2025
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The MetroCard will soon become an antique after three decades of service, transforming before New Yorkers’ very eyes from an everyday straphanger totem into a relic of subway history.
In honor of the magnetic stripe card’s retirement, the New York Transit Museum is set to open an exhibit at its Brooklyn location on Dec. 17. “FAREwell, MetroCard” will offer visitors a walk down MetroCard memory lane through a variety of carefully curated media, both rare and relatable, plucked from the iconic payment method’s history.
“As OMNY becomes the new way to pay, the exhibition invites visitors to explore the MetroCard’s origins, its systemwide rollout, the technology behind it, and the many ways it became a cultural icon for a generation of riders,” the exhibit’s description explains.
Transit Museum curator Jodi Shapiro said the show will include rare, limited edition cards promoting everything from “Twin Peaks” to David Bowie, a 1997 MetroCard Vending Machine prototype, and materials from a 1993 ad campaign for Cardvaark, the anthropomorphized aardvark and would-be MetroCard mascot.
While “FAREwell” will focus on the MetroCard’s history, the museum also has a forthcoming exhibit, set to open next year, that will explore how the card has been repurposed and used as art.
“New York is one of those places where people equally love change and hate change, and New Yorkers are very reluctant to give up things that work, even though they’re functionally outdated,” Shapiro said.
A native New Yorker, Shapiro lived through the phasing out of the subway token, a precursor to the MetroCard, and says she's handling this transition stoically.
“It's just the nature of New York,” she said. “I can't think of any other big cities that have this kind of emotional connection not only to their transit systems but also to the way that they pay for their transit systems.”
Meanwhile, the MTA is also bidding the MetroCard adieu via an edible promotional event involving MetroCard-inspired food, including, “free MetroCard sprinkles with mention of the MetroCard and purchase of scooped or soft serve ice cream” at Carvel and Cardvaark cookies at Zabar’s ($3.59).
“FAREwell, MetroCard” will open Dec. 17 at the New York Transit Museum (99 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn). Entry to the museum, including the exhibit, is $10 for adults and $5 for kids.
Tagged
Existing in New York City
metrocard
new york city
nyc history
transit museum
transportation
Hannah Frishberg
Hannah Frishberg covers New York City arts and culture. Got a tip? Email Hannah at [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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