Swiping is so over. Or it will be, at least for elites with good credit, or basic checking, or one of those fancy "smart phones." Back in June the MTA kicked off a pilot program which gives participating commuters access to select subway, PATH, NJ Transit, and MTA buses with just a tap of their MasterCards. Now Visa has come on board, and the company is testing out "contactless payments" with smartphones. more ›

One of the more amusing articles from the Wall Street Journal's new "Greater New York" section is the one about Metrocard swiping. The launching point is how two Chinese mathematicians were arrested after they tried to enter a Queens subway station by "doubling up" (when two people enter on one swipe) because one of the men swiped his Metrocard so many times, got the "Please Swipe Again At This Turnstile" error and could not pass through the turnstile. But, really, we were just reminded of the phrase, "Metrotard," coined by The Morning News circa 2003: "A person in front of you at the subway turnstile who can’t figure out how to swipe his or her subway pass. Also: A person who tries to use a Metrocard to withdraw money from an ATM." more ›

Yesterday New York's highest court upheld the felony forgery conviction of a man who was arrested in 2005 for "selling swipes" to subway riders using MetroCards altered with a simple bending technique. How simple? Well, Judge Victoria A. Graffeo tells you pretty much exactly how to do it in the 12-page decision [pdf], which explains how defendant Jonathan Mattocks would bend discarded MetroCards in such a way that the turnstile computers were unable to read one of two magnetic fields on the cards, resulting in a "free" ride. more ›