Traveling the NYC subway will soon get slightly less terrible.
If you live in New York City, you probably own a MetroCard for getting through downtown via the subway system. The MetroCard has been the primary way of accessing the NYC subway since the 1990s as a way to phase out the use of physical tokens, and it was recently announced that the MetroCard is now getting replaced with NFC.
London already uses near-field-communication technology for accessing its subway systems, so while this isn't a revolutionary move, it's one that we're thankful to see nonetheless. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority recently approved the $573 million program that will replace MetroCards for NFC, initially installing the new system in 500 turnstiles and 600 busses in late 2018, with the plan to have all subway stations and buses outfitted with the new tech at some point in 2020.
With the NFC readers, you'll be able to zip around the city using Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and contactless debit/credit cards. Travelers will be able to use MetroCards through 2023, but when that year rolls around, the physical plastic cards will officially be discontinued.
Per the chairman of the MTA, Joseph J. Lhota, "It's the next step in bringing us into the 21st century, which we need to do. It's going to be transformative."
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