Stretching Your Metrocard Dollars

New Yorkers' love for good deals seems to be put to the test when it comes to Metrocards. It seems that in days past when tokens were the mass transit currency in vogue, people would buy and hoard tokens right before a fare increase. But nowaday, the people are less interested in hoarding $21 or $70 Metrocards in anticipation of the fare hike next year (the weekly goes to $24, the monthly goes to $76). The MTA will be monitoring to see if purchases go up before the fare hike, but many people explained that they don't have the money to invest in saving money later. Gothamist loves how Clifton Hood, who wrote 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York, "lamented" to the Times about the lack of ability for subway riders to "creatively beat the system"; however, he was not asked about Metrocard bending. Of course, one of Gothamist's favorite token-hoarding stories is about the people who bought $1.50 tokens before the fare hike to $2 last year; the problem was that tokens weren't being accepted anymore. And we were struck by MTA spokesman Tom Kelly's comments about buying Metrocards from vending machines: "I'm always afraid of the machine eating my money." Dude, good luck if you're stuck at a station where a station booth is closed.

The NY Times also looked at what was a better buy - the 6-rides-for-$10 Metrocard or the unlimited weekly/monthly Metrocards - last week. Related: What happened to the old tokens.