New Yorkers: Get a Subway Card That Refills by Itself
The worst time to buy a New York City MetroCard is when you are already at a metro station. You are afraid of being late for the train, and there are people in front of you and behind you who are equally worried, slowing you down and straining you. But you will never have to endure it again. Instead, get your auto-recharge EasyPay MetroCard MTA.
EasyPay works with both pay-per-ride cards and 30-day unlimited cards. Once set up, your card is automatically recharged when your account ends or ends the 30-day period. (The next 30-day period won’t start until you use the card, so if you time it right, you can stock up on weekends without the metro.)
A few years later, when your card expires, the MTA will send you a new card. If you have enough money in your bank account, you can stop worrying about filling up your card forever.
Sign here. The process is boring and inconvenient; it’s still MTA. You will need to provide two credit or debit cards, a primary card and a backup. (You can use your employer’s tax-free transit debit card.) Save your username, your PIN, and your account number because the system treats your account number as a password.
Your card will be mailed under the EasyPay trademark as shown above and you will use it like a regular card. Here is the FAQ.
If you are using an unlimited card, I suggest that you also get a pay-per-ride card when you travel with a visitor or friend who has run out of card. You will need to create a separate account for each card, which is silly, but a password manager makes it easy to manipulate both accounts.
Don’t lose your card! In this case, call 1-877-323-7433 immediately or go to the website and click on “Report Lost / Damaged MetroCard” in the left column. Otherwise, you will screw up when someone else finds and uses your card. While you wait for a new card in the mail, you will have to buy a temporary Normie card, which we have established is the worst.