MetroCards, which New York City subway and bus system riders used for decades to pay for trips before their discontinuation, are now selling for thousands online.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority stopped issuing new cards or allowing existing cards to be refilled on Jan. 1, though people still can use MetroCards with money on them until a date later this year, which the agency has not yet specified.
On eBay, sellers are trying to unload MetroCards for as much as $50,000.
Several cards on offer have special designs. Some designs are sports-related, such as cards with designs for Super Bowl 48 or the 1998 World Series-winning New York Yankees. Other cards on offer memorialize music stars, including rap group Wu-Tang Clan, the late rapper Biggie Smalls, late rocker David Bowie or pop starlet Olivia Rodrigo.
Others are more city-specific, such as cards featuring a design centered on John F. Kennedy International Airport or a card honoring the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
There are also a series of related special card designs, such as a five-card set of MetroCards with poems on the back, or an unopened set of four unused inaugural MetroCards with designs from the city’s 1994 skyline.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority issued MetroCards for over 30 years after phasing out subway tokens.
The agency is replacing the cards with a tap-and-go system that, instead of pre-paying for a set number of trips, the new OMNY system charges riders per trip taken.
