POLIS

New York for New Yorkers

Issue 1
December 2019
polismagazine.com

Tapped In,
Left Out
How cashless transit
may affect NYC’s
marginalized populations
Our Guide to
Local Elections

A Tour of Queens

Renting vs.
Buying Homes

Photo via Pixabay $4.99

 Tapped in, left out
On April 12, 2003 the New York City Met-
ropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) ceased
the use of tokens to pay for subway and bus rides.
This concluded fifty years of tokens, including five
iterations of gleaming gold coins that took New
Yorkers wherever, whenever. The shiny new
MetroCard, first introduced in 1992, took over
to ease the weight in passengers’ pockets. Soon
enough, the ubiquitous yet flimsy yellow ticket
will go the way of the abandoned token.
The MTA announced its plans to ditch the
MetroCard in 2016, making way for a contactless
fare system. The incoming One Metro New York
(OMNY) system relies on digital payment systems
like Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Pay,
along with near-field communication enabled
debit and credit cards. Though only 16 subway
stations currently accept it, OMNY is expected to
take over New York City by 2023.
Although a quick tap may seem easy
enough, cashless transit payment is no simple
matter. The system could exclude New Yorkers
with majority-cash incomes and those without
bank accounts. Nearly 7% of American households
don’t have a checking or savings account, accord-
ing to the New York Times, while another 19% are

As New York City moves deemed “underbanked,” which means they use
non-conventional banking methods like payday
loans and money orders. In both situations, most

toward cashless transit fares, are people of color.

“There are hundreds and thousands of
New Yorkers who may have no permanent address

the bustling metropolis may or home, and many New Yorkers who are under-
banked, either because of poverty or because they

leave its most vulnerable

lack documentation,” New York City Councilmem-
ber Ritchie Torres Torres told Grub Street. “Re-
quiring a card is erecting a barrier for low-income

residents out of a ride. New Yorkers—period.”

By Molly Glick

Polis magazine – December 2019