The Cycle of A Token Life

Farewell, tiny metallic NYC transportation friend: This week, 45 million subway tokens were melted down. The Post repoted that M&M Scrap Metals in NJ melted down about 342,000 pounds of tokens. M&M Scrap Metal bought the tokens for $500,000; their street value would have been $90 million. The copper and nickel tokens can be melted down in a "noncorrosive alloy" and may be in a car, airplane and computer you drive/ride/use soon. Tokens are still available for fun, not for rides, at the Transit Museum Store.

And the MTA's fare hikes have apparently caused a ridership decline. Gothamist is worried that the next step is for the MTA to demand the firstborn from monthly Metrocard holders. Gothamist on people hoarding tokens.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 16, 2004 1:44 PM

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brian

I miss the token. Over the last few months, my car was in the shop more often than it was in my driveway. This forced me to use the bus. I had to have 8 quarters for each fare. So I had to have 16 quarters a day! Quite a weight to carry around as opposed to just 2 tokens! Never liked the metro card. Have you seen these people using them? Why can't they have them ready as they get on the bus? They look in every pocket, its usually in the last one. Then its in some kind of wallet or folder which takes time to pull apart. Then it has to be inserted properly. How about those with the empty cards? With the token, it was so much faster. Either you had it or not, and it was easy to use. I miss tokens.