New York to Replace MetroCard With Modern Way to Pay Transit Fares<br />He added that card issuers “are going to want to be a part of it” and would add the near-field technology “when they realize<br />that 5.8 to 6 million people in New York City are getting on the subway every day.”<br />Mr. Lhota said another potential advantage was that fare readers could be installed near the back doors on buses to “allow for all-door boarding.”<br />That would let buses pull away from bus stops sooner than they do now, reducing travel times.<br />New electronic readers will be installed in 500 subway turnstiles<br />and on 600 buses in New York beginning late next year, and will reach the rest of the city’s subway stations and buses by late 2020.<br />Starting late next year, they can do it the way Londoners already do, by waving cellphones or certain<br />kinds of credit or debit cards at the turnstiles in the subway or the fareboxes on buses.<br />The push to modernize the way fares are paid comes during a disastrous year for the subway system, with delays on every line, rush-hour malfunctions<br />that have strangled the system, and worse: a train derailed in Manhattan in mid-June, injuring dozens of people and raising concerns over whether the subway was even safe.
